Oliphaunts and Oblivion
by hedgiebelle
Summary: Surviving in Middle Earth is difficult in itself without losing one's memory. Add that to waking up in the immediate path of an army of Mordor, and very interesting events will unfold. How will one girl with no recollection of who or what she is discover her place during the War of the Ring? Can Prince Legolas of Mirkwood assist her, or will he only hold her back from destiny?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Lord of the Rings however sad it may be. I only hope to represent Tolkien's work with an OC of my own. What you do not recognize from the books or movies or appendixes or anything else of Tolkien's belongs to me.

"Not all who wander are lost." ~J.R.R. Tolkien

1.

Jolting awake, the girl squinted her eyes while the sun shone brightly in her face. She thought she could feel this strange falling sensation in her dream and right when she was about to hit the ground, she had found herself here; under a clear blue sky and breathing the clean morning air. For the life of her she could not remember what the rest of the dream was about. Actually, she couldn't remember a thing.

Her head was pounding with a constant rhythm such as the beat of a drum; she closed her eyes again hoping that the sensation could go away. Rolling over onto her stomach, she almost screamed when she realized that she was on the edge of a cliff. If she had rolled over just a few more inches, she would have fallen over the edge one hundred feet into the ravine. However, the reason she did not scream was because of the thousands of men making up a powerful army right before her eyes.

They were strange, with dark skin, dark hair, and they were all wearing seemingly intricately woven armor. Of their faces, all she could see were their eyes, ears, and some tufts of hair sticking out of the dark fabric they wore. There were swords on their hips, bows on their backs, and spears in their hands. The army was completely uniform and marching to the same drum beat resounding in my head. They steadily marched with solemn expressions, ready to ride right into battle. Their features were twisted with war paint and every time one looked up or near her, the girl would completely flatten down.

The girl's head twisted to the right, watching even more soldiers come out of the trees. But then with a loud crash, many enormous animals followed the foot soldiers. Trees were knocked down and the ground seemed to shake before her eyes every time one of the gigantic beasts would take a step. _Their steps are the drum beats. _The girl surmised. She could clearly see the animals' backs and what looked to be small huts between their shoulder blades. On every beast there was a man sitting atop its head seemingly directing it.

The huts held everything from food, to people resting in chairs, to archers on the lookout. Even as they got closer to her hiding place, she widened her eyes in surprise at the many spikes attached to the animals' trunks and tusks.

_What are these people doing here?_ She wondered. Then after a moment, she also wondered, _what am I doing here? What is going on? _She tried to remember anything at all, yet no matter how hard she tried or how deep she delved, she always formed a blank. She couldn't even remember her name or, hell, if she even had one.

She was about to crawl backwards deeper into the trees and try to find someone to help her, when she noticed movement directly across from the ravine. Two people; small for adults and yet too mature to be children, were sprawled out much in the same way as her. One was slightly fat, with a mop of tangled blonde hair atop his little head. The other had black hair and was skinnier than the other. She realized after a moment what was so unnerving about him.

He was staring at her. 

And she was staring back.

He started to crawl backwards as she had been planning to do before. She watched him stand and say quietly to his friend, "We should go."

The girl widened her eyes in surprise. _How had I heard that? _Her hand immediately went up to her ear, wondering if she had just imagined his small voice in her head. As she felt her ears, she noticed something else. They were pointy. After looking down at the still-marching army in front of her, she concluded that none of their ears were pointy. _Perhaps we are enemies. _She thought to herself.

The girl gave up on the thought that maybe realizing her ears were pointy would trigger a memory of sorts after a few minutes of concentrating hard again. It was difficult to focus on anything with those giant beasts crashing around in front of her, however, and the noise really was starting to make her head spin.

Deciding she had nothing better to do than try to get out of here, the girl started crawling backwards once again. When she thinks she's gone back far enough to stay out of sight of the men, she stands up, also noticing that the two little people she saw earlier are out of sight. She wasn't sure if she was still actually detecting movement across the ravine or if it was simply a trick of the light.

She looked to her left and to her right, not knowing which direction she should go. When she heard a rustle behind her, however, she spun around quickly. Before she could move further, she saw a man dressed much like the others standing right in front of her with a blade pressed to her throat.

Wanting to back up, the girl somehow knew that it would only anger the man and cause him to lash out at her. The only thing she could do at the moment was to observe him and maybe beg for her life. This one had no cloth covering his face and head, and even more of the woven armor. His skin is darker than hers and very scarred, leaving white laceration marks where they are visible.

Somehow, she was getting a very bad feeling just being around him. She was itching to run away but she was stuck. She did notice that while she was observing and judging him, he was doing practically the same with her. She looked down immediately, not knowing if staring into his eyes like that could be taken as a challenge or if it would anger him.

Suddenly a gust of wind blew through the trees which displaced her dark hair; the many layers flew into her face and obstructed her vision a bit, though she dare not try to correct it. Out of her peripheral vision, she saw his eyes flicker over to her pointed ears and back at her face, though his expression gave her no hint as to what he was thinking.

"A chi?" He spoke. With no response he spoke again with more force. "Man de?!"

"What?" She asked timidly. She had absolutely no clue as to what he was saying, she had never heard that language before. He started staring at her again. She finally decided to look up at him again, showing obvious signs of confusion.

"Who are you? State your business!" He finally said. She racked her mind searching once again for the answers he was seeking yet she found none of them.

"I… I do not know." She murmured and the man smirked, barely opening his mouth. She smelt his foul breath but did not react to it.

Then there was a loud yelling behind her. The man's attentions snapped back to the ravine and his eyes narrowed. He dragged her to the edge. There was an attack or raid of some sort. Men in green cloaks covering them emerged from the foliage and then seemed to melt back into it as soon as they'd shot a few arrows at the army.

The people below scrambled around in surprise, but were also shooting at the tree men. The giant beasts reared and raced around, obviously frightened, though it didn't seem like the tree men's arrows were affecting them at all.

She was secretly rooting for the tree men, even though she had no idea what this feud could possibly have been about. The ambush lasted only a few moments before everything quieted down. The tree men probably had proved a point that they were watching and were ready to take on the army. The troops in the ravine were acting like nothing had even occurred. They had formed their ranks once again and seemed to be marching with more pride after the attack.

The man still holding the girl spun her around and put his knife back over her throat.

"I will ask again. Who are you and what are you doing here?" He seemed calm but as if anything could make him angry. The girl barely breathed.

"I swear to you I do not know either of your questions. Please, I am confused as well." She was becoming overwhelmed with the day's events and was starting to tire. The man shook her arm roughly.

"Tell me now!" He yelled in her face.

"I am telling you the entire truth! All I want to do is leave here!" She pleaded, her arm starting to ache from his hold. Instead of relinquishing her, he tightened his grip and looked even more suspicious.

"You are lying." He spoke quietly. When she opened her mouth to say she was not, he spoke again, this time with his teeth clenched. "You must be a sky for the Men of Gondor. Tell me your name, Elf."

All she could do was to stare. _Men of Gondor? Were those the tree men? Elf?_ This time in reaction to her silence, the soldier raised his hand and slapped her across the face. Her head snapped to the side even though she could barely feel the sting.

"You are stubborn, Elf. When did you get here? How long have you been lurking?"

"No more than an hour, I swear it! Please, I have done nothing." She again tried the begging tactic and shut up when his fiery glare silenced her.

"Then you shall come with me and see what my captain is to make of you!" He sneered and pulled her behind him.

"I will not!" She hissed at him. She tore out of his grip, causing five long scratched to start bleeding down her arm. The girl immediately turned away and ran in the opposite direction. She only made it a few steps, however, before the soldier grabbed a fistful of her layered hair that was flowing freely behind her.

Her head was jerked back and she groaned as she fell back into the man she had been free of for a few moments. He shoved her off of him without letting go of her hair. The girl was practically dragged behind him, having to crouch and stay near his hand so her head wouldn't be torn off of her very shoulders.

When she scratched at his hand holding her hair, he seemed oblivious to any pain. At the same time, she was getting weaker. Pain, exhaustion, and stress finally made her collapse. She was still conscious, but the man let out a string of curses in Haraldrim, his native language before picking the elf up and carrying her.

The girl was barely conscious when the soldier carrying her threw her down onto the back of one of the huge beasts. The hard swaying gradually brought her back to alertness and she sat up rather abruptly. Her hands were tied behind her to one of the posts of the huts on the animal's back. From up close, they were much bigger, much louder, and much scarier. She flipped her hair out of her eyes and saw another soldier sitting in front of her.

This one had the same skin tones and general appearance as the soldier she came upon, but this one had fine metal armor instead of the woven coverings of the foot soldiers. His eyes seemed harder, but he also seemed more curious.

"Man de?" He asked. It was the same question the other man had asked her earlier. She looked over at him and he approached the man in front of her.

"She is an elf, Captain, though she does not speak Sindarin. It is the common tongue she responds to." He bowed and stepped back.

"Indeed. Who are you?" He asked her.

"I do not know." She held her chin up and stared right passed him. She knew that she did not want to go through this again.

"That was how she responded to everything I asked her, Captain. She is either lying or is incompetent." The other man said again.

"You have aggravated my scout," said the captain. "Now you must answer me instead."

"I have nothing to answer because I know nothing." She answered, hoping the truth rung out in my words as she heard it.

"Yes but you could be _lying._" The captain said. She simply shook her head, still not looking at him.

"Send a scout disguised as a Man of Gondor. Have him speak of seeing an Elven maiden captured by a nameless enemy. See what they make of it."

"Yes sir!" One man walked away and slid down a rope on the side of the animal. After he had spoken of his plan, the captain stared into the mystery girl's eyes intently; hoping for a reaction. When he got none, she knew that he was either thinking she was telling the truth or that she was simply a brilliant actor.

"We have other ways of making you talk." He spoke softly, "this way just makes it easier for us and for you. Not to mention how loud your scream would be." Some of his men laughed behind him but the girl only frowned.

"So if I lie then I am tortured and if I speak only in truth I am tortured." The captain just looked at her, slightly annoyed. "Okay then. I am a spy for the men of Gondor and was giving them signals for their attack to torture you from my position all the way across the ravine while I was ogling over your enormous animals." The captain was now looking at her with his eyebrows raised.

"I said so!" The scout said who had brought her there in the first place.

"That was a _lie. _But of course you will still torture me in order to make sure. But when would the torture stop? When I tell you that I know nothing _one hundred times more, _or when I decide to lie just so it can stop and you can kill me. I might as well not open my mouth again at all." And with that statement, she resolutely slammed her mouth shut and looked out to her left, into the trees. Again, she thought she saw movement, but she said nothing.

"They are the Mûmakil." The captain said. When she gave no reaction, he laughed, "the enormous animals."

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes and simply kept staring at the trees, hoping another ambush would occur so she might escape. Already she had tried to wriggle out of her bonds without anyone noticing, but the rope was too knotted, scratchy, and stinging the scratches caused by the scout who was still staring at her. 


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Lord of the Rings however sad it may be. I only hope to represent Tolkien's work with an OC of my own. What you do not recognize from the books or movies or appendixes or anything else of Tolkien's belongs to me.

"Not all who wander are lost." ~J.R.R. Tolkien

2.

Her lips were cracked and dry, though every time she wet them, they would only sting from lack of moisture. It had been weeks since she was first imprisoned on the back of the swaying Mûmakil, and things were still looking bleak. No more ambushes had come from the tree men, and the army's pounding footsteps were growing louder and more resolute each passing day.

On the back of the Mûmakil, hands still bound to one of the many posts holding up the makeshift tent on the animal's back, she was not tortured and questioned so much as neglected and ignored.

It would seem that with her threat of being a spy, the Haradrim would pay more attention to what was said and done around her. The captain and a select few of his men would spend much of their time poring over maps, arguing about which way was which and what paths to take that would lead them to their destination.

From what she could gather, the Haradrim were a very secluded bunch of tribes lying South of Gondor, wherever that may be. They had an ancient and sturdy alliance with the Mordor that was mentioned earlier. Every time that name was mentioned, a chill would creep from the center of her chest into every crevice of her body. Even some of the foot soldiers who were rarely invited up onto the Mûmakil would be visibly disconcerted when it was brought up.

Earlier, the captain had been speaking to some of his scouts, ordering them to leave and watch over the paths to Isengard, for that was where they were headed. As she understood, the Haradrim had been called to Mordor in preparation for a possible battle. They had camped there for many months until they were ordered to Isengard in a mission to try and protect the city from ill will.

"We will travel on the East shore of the Great Anduin River until we come across the Onedló Entwash. That smaller river has more cover and will allow us to move more freely next to it in a North Westerly direction." The captain's dirty finger trailed upward on the map in front of him and a few scouts. "At the tributary of Snowbourn, we will cross the river in the shallows and make a straight bound for Isengard across the West Emnet Plain." The captain looked up expectantly.

"Sir, following that path will lead us less than thirty miles from the city of Minas Tirith; a city of man and possibly with the strongest defenses of any. Would it not be wiser to head straight East and then cross the Ered Nimrais Lamedon Mountains and _then _head straight North to Isengard?"

The captain looked up at the scout while still leaning against the surface holding the map. "Remember that a straight path from one point to another takes less time and effort than turning corners as you suggest. You forget that the orcs of Mordor left before us by the Anduin River to lay siege against the Minas Tirith's riverside guard post. Gondor no longer has the power to protect against enemies at the river. Of course, according to you we could simply cross the mountains and put us weeks off of our journey. Perhaps you would like to assist in pulling these mighty Mûmakil up the steep and narrow mountain paths yourself."

The scouts all went quiet and agreed that their captain's plan was the bet course of action. The girl sat watching carefully and hoping that they were wrong about Gondor's men being powerless against them. She so wanted out of her binds and back on the sturdy Earth.

"The gap of Rohan has already been taken care of and a path carved for us through the great Fangorn Forest itself." Whispers arose inside the tent and the girl desperately kept herself from banging her head against the pole she was tied to in hopes of breaking it. Looking over the edge she was near of the giant beast, she knew it was a very long way down and would take an enormous amount of luck for her to not plummet to certain death should she fall. For now, it seemed her best bet was to stay silent and calm as long as she could manage that.

The girl counted the moons that rose and fell in order to keep track of the days while they walked steadily onward. She was also interested in how she could seemingly tell just which direction the army was marching at any given time. The first time she realized this, it had excited her to her core. _Could I be remembering this place? Have I been here before? _But no, the more she looked around the more lost she felt aside from the bearings in her inner compass.

True to the captain's word, they had been following a great rushing river for many days and heading North. The roar of the water gushing over rocks and miniature waterfalls almost balanced out the constant pounding berating her eardrums that was driving her mad with every footstep the Mûmakil was taking. Almost.

When the captain felt good enough and did not forget about her, he fed and watered the mysterious girl being held prisoner. Never did he speak with her because he gave up on her constant '_I don't know'_s and _'Please'_s. He still believed her to be a spy in allegiance against Mordor and in turn, the Haraldrim.

After no less than sixty days heading North, the army shifted its bearing more Westward. True to his word, the foliage was denser allowing for more cover from the captain's enemies and the army began moving more swiftly without as many interruptions. The Haradrim all seemed to be more comfortable with moving in cover of darkness, even the darkness caused by trees. To their left, the water of the Onedló Entwash sparkled a hundred yards away. To their right, nothing but darkness and endless shrouds of black could be seen.

Finally, in half the time it took the battalion to follow the Anduin River Northward, they abruptly turned to the West, crossing the Snowbourn tributary where it was shallow onto the Western shore. The water was much more peaceful there, and under different circumstances, the girl would've liked to sit in the sun on the shore, listening to the leaves and the birds.

For some reason, she felt in sync with the nature around her. If she focused, she thought that her ears could pick up some distant whispers when she was near to the trees. At first she thought more men were watching them and were going to ambush them, but the whispers continued for quite a long time with nothing happening. The further along they traveled, the harsher and louder the whispers became; though when she tried to concentrate on actually understanding the mutterings, they would slip out of thought and out of mind until everything became deathly silent aside from the army's marching. This alone frustrated her to no end.

When they eventually veered from the trees, the girl started feeling empty and as if all hope was lost. She knew not what she was hoping for, but she came to the reasonable conclusion that she was simply hoping for another ambush. In the open Emnet Plains, she could see for miles and all was still, not one thing was out of place and so she felt emptier than ever.

When she had finally given up hope and lay slumped over the edge of the Mûmakil, a resounded cry caused her to sit erect and look all around the army. One of the scouts had seen something in the distance; a black shadow making haste across the grassy plain. With her sharp eyes, she saw that they were men on horseback. They were not dressed in green cloaks to hide their faces, but were clad in earth-toned battle armor, ready to take on the Haradrim.

The girl smiled, and waited for the Haradrim to see what she already had. To avoid the shadow coming closer, the captain had ordered the army towards the forest that could barely be seen.

"Change bearing West toward the forest cover!" The captain barked out his orders. "Prepare for battle with the Riders of Rohan!"

"You said Rohan was taken care of, sir!" A scout said, pulling on his cloth mask.

"They must be exiles, then!" The captain shouted at the scout and he eagerly flew down a rope to the ground to join the other foot soldiers.

The Mûmakil broke into a run, barely managing not to crush any of its allies. The prisoner bounced roughly trying to find footing so she could steady herself. None of the Haraldrim present seemed to have any problems. Her wrists were only becoming more rubbed and raw as her body pulled against their bindings. She felt as if the jostling of her body would make her pass out, and kind of wished that it would.

The trees were looming closer and closer with the Mûmakil's bounds. As they approached tree line, the exiled riders of Rohan had come upon them and were either spearing foot soldiers from the backs of their horses, or shooting arrows up to the riders of the Mûmakil.

"Target the Oliphaunts!" The man in the richest looking armor said upon his great black horse. _Oliphaunts? Are they speaking of the Mûmakil? _The girl gasped at her realization and tried to flatten herself out as well as she could away from sight. She heard the _twang_ of an arrow flying from one of their stiff bows, and the _woosh_ as it flew closer. Her hearing was pinpointing its exact location and she relaxed; the arrow would not hit near her. It finally stuck with a resolute _thump_, but there was another sound.

One of the ropes holding the hut steady on the back of the Mûmakil was tearing apart; they must have sliced it with their arrows. Suddenly there were more bumps, more jostling and the cloth ceiling above her started to crumple overhead. Right as they broke through the tree line and into the coverage, the pole holding the Haradrim's prisoner snapped in two. With great joy, she slipped her hands out from behind the shards of wood and rested them behind her. As the jostling continued, however, she realized what a bad idea that was.

Now matter how hard she tried to find a grip behind her, she could feel herself slipping from the mighty beast's back. With nothing to brace herself, she fell quite a ways into a tall tree that just happened to pass by. The branches cut at her skin and tore at her clothes, catching her hair in tangled twigs while she kept falling, not as quickly, but the tree did not actually catch her.

She wanted to stop sliding, she hoped for a branch to land on that would steady her so she could relax for a few minutes. Instead, she kept falling, not able to see where the ground was since it was such a huge tree. In some ways, she thought the tree was even _trying _to help her. More than once she fell into another branch with more force than she thought her body could produce by simply falling into it. Her idea was absurd, but she found some strange comfort in the thought that maybe the tree was actually trying to catch her.

This thought echoed through her mind as she was falling the rest of the way to the ground, until landing quite ungracefully into a pile among the leafy forest floor. She felt no impact, only darkness, and she welcomed the oblivion as a way to ease her pain and discomfort for the time being.

If anything, it was the trees that eventually woke her up. The ground was damp from a recent heavy rain, as were her clothes an during the night she slept through she felt showers of acorns and other seeds fall onto her motionless body while she was sleeping, but finally the stinging of their hard shells pulled her back to consciousness.

The first thing she did was groan from he crumpled position, as many do when waking up in immense pain; though many are not in immense pain because they fell off a frightened Mûmakil in the middle of a forest with helpful trees as she was. With her bound hands, the stranded elf managed to push herself up into a sitting position. With quick, shallow breaths, she pinpointed the location of her worst pain; on her left side under her breast, there were several places that felt as though with each inhale, they threatened to tear out her skin and set her heart on fire.

Leaves and dirt were sticking off places where there were streams of dried blood. A particular gash in her thigh worried her greatly, as it was looking slightly discolored and felt numb. Deciding that her best course of action was to distance herself from the cruel Haradrim, she set off in the direction she guessed was opposite of where the army had run. Little did she know that there was another force at large in her subconscious pushing her in the same direction.

The further she walked, the further she felt that she had covered no ground. She knew somehow that she had kept her bearing straight and had not veered off the path she felt was the right one, but the world still felt as if nothing had changed. The lights were bouncing off the leaves from above in strange ways; every time she blinked it was as if the light was coming from another direction. _It is a trick of the forest, _she thought, _it must be very old to have such huge trees._

She also knew that she was not walking in the Fangorn Forest that had been in the Haradrims' path; which pleased her immensely. Even so, something about the forest seemed stressful and anxious; making her feel much the same. Keeping eyes and ears peeled, she willed herself to not make a sound through the underbrush. Only when she unfortunately tripped ungracefully over a few tree roots could the animals around be alerted of her presence, though the dry twigs underneath her feet and the leaves she pushed through would not make a sound as she passed.

_Perhaps that is one of the reasons I feel so uncomfortable, it is so eerily quiet here; so unnatural. _Though she didn't remember ever strolling through a forest as she was now, she could still sense the animosity in the air. Once or twice or maybe even three times, the girl was forced to lean against a tree and catch her breath, clutching her ribs and trying to let the many wounds she had accumulated prepare for more walking.

Then her great hearing picked up something far sooner than her eyes. The sound of metal-on-metal, of battle cries for rage and for glory, and of heavy conflict made her ears perk and her approach cautious. She was frightened, though the girl also wanted to leap for joy since there was finally a sign that she had gotten quite a ways in a short amount of time. She finally limped to the edge of the forest line. Before her, beyond the obvious fighting, were the smoking ruins of a great city resting against the mountainside. Debris lay everywhere in a depressing setting of ruin and blood. As she looked upon the scene before her, the stress built up inside of her even more. She could feel that this battle was the reason she had been so frightened in the forest gloom.

The fighting was obviously drawing to a close. Nasty looking creatures ran from the battle only to be chased and slain by the exiled Riders of Rohan! The girl perked excitedly; anyone who was an enemy of the Haradrim and these deformed creatures in front of her could most definitely help her. She waited for a while, watching the rest of the terrible creatures be hacked to pieces or shot by arrows. She found a strange pleasure well up inside of her whenever another fountain of thick black blood spurted from the monsters, as if she knew they were evil.

In fact, she _did _know they were evil.

She just didn't know _how_.

A wave of pain and exhaustion overtook her. She managed to curl up into a ball and stay still. Nausea was evident within her, and she pressed tightly on her stomach with her knees as if to sooth it, but it was not working. She stayed curled up until she heard a rustling in the bush right next to her feet. Her body pressed itself into a tighter ball, willing not to be seen. Her eyes were clamped shut and it took a lot of her strength not to scream or moan in agony.

She heard more rustling and then a tug on her ankle. One eye shot open and peeked over her legs, but what she saw startled her to the point that her mouth hung slack in horror.

One of the creatures was dragging itself up to her. Its legs hung limp behind it and there was an ax stuck right in its lower back. Its teeth were yellow and dripping in black blood. Its skin was unhealthily grey and covered in mud and blood, though its head was covered with greasy hair. She could smell its foul breath as it crept closer, laughing, coughing, and spitting over her all at once.

The nightmarish monster snarled at her with a voice tearing its way through her ears and made her jerk back, finally reacting. Behind her, her arms felt around for anything she could use for aid, though she truly wished they were unbound so she could simply crawl away.

As she watched, the monster before her reached down and removed a dagger so scratched and serrated, just looking at it hurt more than her wounds combined. Perhaps she should have screamed to let one of the riders know she needed help, but she couldn't make a sound at all. She let her eyes close and she prayed to whom ever people prayed to in the land that she was in.

_Please let it be quick. Please, please, please._

She flinched at the _thump _of an arrow hitting something nearby and opened one eye barely to see more blood draining from the monster's mouth than before. A delicate arrow's tip shone through its neck and it fell forward, sprawled over her body as if asleep. She could not move, being pinned under an armor clad monster more muscled than any man she had come across in the past months. All she could do was whimper under its weight, barely being able to breathe and barely able to believe how close to death she was.

Then she remembered the arrow and looked up and over the monster's body. A man stood with a fine bow in his hand and an arrow twisting in the other. As she looked up and her dark hair parted to show the points in her ears, the man stood taller, and instantly a look of concerned was exposed on his features. He dropped his bow and arrow and lunged forward, heaving the monster off of her and looked her up and down.

"Odulen an dhen eithad." He spoke quietly, putting a hand on her forehead. She did not understand his words but he felt friendly, and something was urging her to trust this man so she allowed her eyes to close and to relax as he looked over her and at many of her wounds. She was gently shaken when he realized that her eyes were closed.

"Dar echui. Man agorer anden?" He asked her. The elf regrettably opened her eyes to the man above her and looked at him in an expression somewhere between pain and confusion when she realized he was asking her questions.

"Man de?" He asked a different question this time.

"What are you saying?" She groaned. He sighed in realizing that she did not speak Sindarin but he continued in the Common Tongue.

"You must stay awake or you will be lost. What is your name?" The girl watched him step away to put the arrow he dropped in the quiver on his back and ling the bow over his shoulder. Then he cautiously gathered her up in his arms.

"I do not know." She stated for perhaps the thousandth time she could remember. This really got the man going, he gracefully ran into the now peaceful battlefield, sidestepping the monsters and leaping over fallen horses. The elf in his arms felt not his footfalls on the grass, only the swaying of his body whenever he took a new step. She forced herself to try and stay awake and to listen to the one thing he had told her to do, but she felt as if she was loosing a battle inside of her. Her eyes shut once more as he ran into the city as if flying.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Lord of the Rings however sad it may be. I only hope to represent Tolkien's work with an OC of my own. What you do not recognize from the books or movies or appendixes or anything else of Tolkien's belongs to me.

"Not all who wander are lost." ~J.R.R. Tolkien

3.

The elf woke up slowly, lying down in an uncomfortable bed with straw poking out of the sides. She could feel the fever in the air, though she had none. Miscellaneous moans of pain made her ears perk every so often. She shivered at what the sounds entailed; pain, and lots of it. Soldiers from the battle she witnessed were probably scattered around her in need of aid. Images from then plagued her mind as bad as any fever, and she felt hollow at what the men must have been feeling during and now after the fighting.

She forced her eyes open to look at whoever she could feel touching her. A fair woman with long blond hair was wrapping thick cloth bandages around the gaping gash on the elf's thy. Moving her wrists, she realized that her bonds had been cut and were no longer restraining her. She carefully twisted her torso, feeling tight wrappings over her ribs. Under the scratchy wool blanket, the girl also realized that she was unclothed.

"You are awake. It has only been a few hours; it is now three o'clock in the afternoon. I've done my best to heal you, my name is Eowyn." The woman barely glanced at the Elven maiden's face. The elf's eyebrows furrowed when she realized that she was in more pain than she had been in before she slipped into unconsciousness. Noticing her discomfort, Eowyn tied of the bandage and replaced the blanket over her legs, looking at her expectantly.

"What is your name?" Eowyn said, this time asking a direct question and focusing her attention solely on the elf maiden in front of her. Eowyn had kind features, but a very sullen and downtrodden appearance.

"I-" Her mind was fuzzy from the pain of herself and those around her. She still felt dirty and was pleased no one had attempted to bathe her while she was unconscious, though her skin did feel grimy. She tried speaking again after a few moments. "I know neither my name nor where I come from."

With frantic hands, Eowyn suddenly reached forward, her long fingers coming through the Elven maiden's hair and looking for any abnormalities on her scalp.

"You have no head injury. Do you remember nothing of coming to us? You are at Helm's Deep; a fortress of Rohan." Eowyn's features displayed concern.

"I woke up South East of here and was imprisoned by Haradrim; riders of the Mûmakil. Their army was attacked by exiled Riders of Rohan and I fell off the back of on of the Mûmakil and into a tree. Then I made my way in the direction I thought opposite of where my captors had been heading." The elf closed her eyes as she spoke, starting to feel the pangs of hunger return; she had not had a full meal since before she could remember.

Eowyn sat down abruptly on the straw mattress beside the elf and reached out to feel her ribs.

"No wonder you were so broken when Legolas discovered you! You fell from an Oliphaunt. Indeed you are lucky to have lived through it." Eowyn looked around, again returning to her sullen attitude while frowning. "That must have been a battle of your own."

"What happened for such a gruesome conflict to occur here?" The elf said nothing more of her experiences, but instead changed the subject.

"Uruk-Hai from Isengard marched upon our fortress in the night. Many of both sides were slain, but the men prevailed and drove the Uruk away." Eowyn spoke quietly and vaguely. She thought it best to withhold information from the Elven maiden; at least until Greyhame the wizard could pass judgment on the Elven maiden's purpose.

"Isengard?" The elf withheld herself from flinching at the mention of it.

"You've heard the name before. Do not worry, Isengard was taken care of. A few brave men set out and found that it had been destroyed. Saruman the white wizard is dead." Eowyn leaned closer, eyes wide with curiosity. The woman could exchange moods in the blink of an eye, though she was always surrounded by an aura of despair.

"The Haradrim that held me prisoner spoke of Isengard as their destination. They said they were meant to protect it. I do not know what from." She relaxed again, willing her strangled breathing to return to normal, though she suddenly became curious. "What is Uruk-Hai?"

"They are the filthy warriors of Mordor; stronger, smarter, and more ferocious than their predecessors; the Orc." Eowyn placed a look of disgust upon her face; nose crinkled as if a rotten smell was wafting up from directly underneath it.

"Orc?" The elf asked with one word. It did not roll off of her tongue with ease.

"They were once elves; like you and you kin. But they were corrupted by an evil lord long ago. Now they live separately and only serve the darkness. _The blood of an Orc is dark as the night, attempting forever to fade the white light._" Eowyn spoke of an ancient rhyme, told to children to instill fear in their hearts for all that is evil.

Eowyn stood and made sure the elf was comfortable. She would go get some stew to satisfy the hunger that was obviously evident in her weak body. Along the way, she looked for Greyhame who could possibly unveil the mysteries of the elf.

In her straw bed, the elf relaxed, willing herself to heal quickly and trying to ignore her hunger pains which only caused her condition to worsen minute by minute. She tried forcing herself to rest in order to pass the time before Eowyn might come back and answer more of her many questions. Sleep would not come, however, and she instead looked around at the wounded men before her.

Other women tended to the soldiers, but there were too few to help them all who needed it. Only a few rows away, she could not see a man's chest rise with breath, or hear the expected sounds of respiration through his pale lips. She'd seen dead men before, in fact she secretly took delight whenever one of the Haradrim was shot or slain in an ambush. Now, however, it caused her great pain to look upon that man who could have been saved if only the women had not neglected him.

She realized that her thoughts sounded quite angry at the women doing their best to help the wounded, but it was not so. She could practically feel the dead man's disappointment of surviving a battle, but dying in the aftermath. Dying before he could know that his comrades were truly safe. Dying before he could see the affects victory had on a depressed, compressed civilization.

Then, she felt angry at herself. How could she have commanded the attention of Eowyn when there were far more people with far worse injuries to worry about? Could Eowyn not see that because of her socialization, a man has died who she could have saved? The elf's eyes were watering before Eowyn returned with a bowl of something steaming and a man so clad in white, she could barely look upon him.

Eowyn sat beside the elf again and brought the bowl up to her lips. The bearded man leant against his long staff and watched while the mysterious elf drank the thin broth steadily. The first thing the wizard noticed was the pointed ears on either side of the girl's head, displaying that she was, indeed, an elf.

"Greyhame" Eowyn spoke when the bowl of broth was empty. "I do not know what has happened to her memory. There are no injuries to be found that could affect her so, and I thought it best that you would see and speak with her yourself." The bearded man nodded, squinting in thought and jutting out his bushy eyebrows as well.

"Your kin would call me Mithrandir in the Elven Speech, but you may call me Gandalf." His voice was deep and commanding, and his very presence seemed to dissipate much of the gloom in the healing hall. "What may I call you?"

The wizard asked her much of the same things Eowyn did, to which the elf responded the same also. All three of them were becoming frustrated, that was obvious, because none of them knew what had happened to the elf. Gandalf stood silently, seeing nothing as he stared into the distance. Finally he had had enough.

"May I?" The wizard had reached out his hand to hover over the elf's forehead. She looked at him, unsure, but nodded anyway.

Gandalf closed his eyes as he searched within the elf's head, muttering an incantation as he did so. Her eyes closed as well, willing him to find anything that could help her to understand what was going on. Gandalf searched through the black abyss inside of her head, trying to find a clue as to her identity or why she was there. The faster he repeated his incantation, the more darkness he could glide through, and finally he seemed to see "light at the end of the tunnel" as you could say.

The wizard was optimistic of his discovery, even knowing that it was probably a stronger memory block than any spells his previous form, Gandalf the Grey, could cast. The light was brightening, taking on an orange and red glow, but the more of the light he could discern, the greater the despair inside of him built up.

It was the Eye; it clouded his vision suddenly, catching the wizard by surprise as it always did. A roaring in Gandalf's ears caused his arm to retreat, letting go of the elf's forehead and allowing her to fall back. Her eyes were wider than his, for she had seen exactly what he had, but she was not as strong and more affected. If elves could sweat, she would be lying in a pool of it, but alas they cannot.

"What was that?" She asked the wizard fearfully.

"I'm afraid your memory has not been lost by any injury or locked away by any spell, but stolen by Sauron; Lord of Mordor and enemy of anything good in Middle Earth." Gandalf was sorry to have to tell the girl of this, but he had heard one word through the roaring of the Eye's flames.

"I do believe that your name is now known to us, my dear." Gandalf smiled a bit when she looked at him expectantly. "Your name is Erynell; meaning Lady of the Forest."

"Erynell? Erynell…" No matter how many times she rolled it off her tongue, she felt no connection to the words. "If you say so…"

Eowyn smiled lightly and stood up, leaving the elf and the wizard who was chuckling at her response.

"Perhaps you will get used to it. An unfamiliar name is better than no name at all." He picked up his staff and left Erynell to rest. Outside of the great hall that was in use for healing, Gandalf was pulled aside by Théoden, King of Rohan.

"Who is the elf, Gandalf? She was not in the battle, why is she here?" He asked the wizard.

"She was no Elven warrior, it is true, yet she was found right outside the battle with no memory of who she is. She has been tainted by the Dark Lord Sauron." Gandalf replied. He did not expect a positive response to that statement, and he did not receive one.

"What?! Gandalf, if she has been corrupted, then she must leave immediately! She is already taking up space that could be put to good use for the recovery of one of my Riders." Théoden was obviously disconcerted.

"Not corrupted, Wise King. Simply tainted; touched if you will. Her memory has been stolen by Sauron. Whatever the enemy is trying to protect, it is likely to aid us in his defeat." Gandalf muttered to Théoden as some children passed by. "I believe I can help her and help us all in affect."

"She will be closely watched, Wizard, and restrained until her motives have become clear." The king snapped.

"She means no harm!" Gandalf tried to explain calmly, but his annoyance was also threatening to overcome him. "I have been inside of her mind, seen everything she could know and witnessed every _motive_ of her's firsthand." Théoden knew better than to question the wizard after he'd done some intense magical feat. He wished to not be spoken down upon in his own fortress. Without another word, Théoden retreated down the corridor.

The next day, Erynell woke up to Eowyn standing over her once again. In her arms was a thin towel and an earthy brown dress.

"We leave today to return to our kingdom of Edoras. I am to help you bathe before the journey." She smiled and reached down to help the elf before realizing that Erynell could stand on her own.

"I walked for many miles without these bandages. I believe I can walk a few corridors with them." Her limbs were very stiff, but other than that she was able to walk with her chin lifted and her back straight. The water she sat in was lukewarm, but it felt wonderful to have the grime float off her skin and to wash the grease and leaves from her hair. The dress Eowyn lent to her was too long for Erynell's height, but she would not be doing any walking on the voyage to Edoras anyway.

Many wagons were filled with wounded soldiers not to be left behind. Erynell was put on one of the last ones, so it was not as crowded as the others. She sat up against the wagon's rail and looked out over the familiar-looking plains. They were the ones that the Haradrim had marched on. Erynell clenched her teeth whenever the wagon hit a rock or a tough clump of glass, jarring the passengers. It hurt, but she could manage.

Most of the journey she spent talking with one wounded soldier who was not even a soldier. He had seen too few winters to be in so much pain, but he told her of being shot in the lower back with an arrow of an Uruk and now not being able to move his legs. She sat with him also whenever the people made camp and she learned that his name was Háleth, son of Háma.

Erynell was holding Háleth's small hand as the kingdom of Edoras came into view. There were cries of joy from the people all around the boy and the elf as they saw their homes again. The kingdom was smaller than Erynell thought it would be. Eowyn made it out to be a majestic home for royalty and for commoners, though it was the only home Eowyn knew, and Erynell did not actually know if she could be disappointed or not since she didn't remember ever actually seeing a kingdom herself.

Erynell had been given a room in the King's manor at the request of Gandalf himself. She was an interesting case for him, and he not only wanted to help return her memory to her, but he wanted to study the effects of such power. To have one's memories stripped from them did not seem very healthy to the wizard.

In her room, Erynell really tried to stay still and rest, but she needed to move, she felt weaker at every moment that she lay still, and the felt more tired the more she slept. Finally, after long internal debate, Erynell decided to leave the room and seek out Eowyn or Gandalf; anyone to give her company.

As soon as she stepped into the corridor and closed her door as silently as she could, Erynell came across a very short, very thick man with very, very bushy red hair.

"Oh! And who might you be, lass?" He asked her. One of his eyes was squinted partially shut as he looked her over, not noticing her ears.

"I am Erynell, I've been healing, but I-" He cut her off.

"Gimli, son of Gloin at your service." He took a slight bow and she curtseyed in return. "You've been healing, have you? Follow me; a pint will do the lady well."

"Pardon my curiosity, Gimli, but what are you? I've never seen such a man as you." Erynell raced after him. The man took surprisingly long steps for one so small.

"Aye, lass, not a man, but a dwarf!" He seemed to yell out the last few words, Erynell could tell that he was proud of his kin. She said no more to him, but followed his steps leading to a great hall crowded with many men and a handful of women. Eowyn was sipping from a goblet and laughing with Gimli, who had just joined her without Erynell's notice.

She took a goblet for herself next to the barrels that men were crowding around rowdily. Recognizing no one but Eowyn, and not wanting to intrude upon her spirited conversation with the dwarf, Erynell situated herself at a small table near the door of the great hall. Watching the people celebrate, Erynell noticed a familiar man walk through the entrance to the hall. She kept her head down and watched Gimli excused himself from Eowyn's company and practically dragged the man over to an empty barrel.

While he walked gracefully behind the excited dwarf, Erynell saw his long blond hair reveal his ears. They were pointed, just like hers! _Could he be my kin? _Erynell thought to herself while feeling her ears and the soft tips on top of them. With her keen hearing, Erynell heard most of the conversation between the two as another blond man, perhaps a Rohirrim man, handed Gimli and the blond elf pints of a liquid.

"So it is a drinking game." The elf made his statement in a soft voice, completely out of place among the laughter in the hall. Erynell looked down at her own drink and realized she had not even attempted to sip it. She raised the glass to her lips, took a small drink, and coughed. _How could anyone drink this? _She thought, looking back up at the two.

"It is the _dwarves _who go swimming with little hairy women!" Gimli bounced up and down with his deep chuckling and downed another one of his glasses; there was a pile already in front of him. The elf meanwhile, raised an eyebrow at the dwarf's display and calmly grabbed another glass for himself. He practically dropped it when he finished and looked at his fingers in fear.

"I feel something." The men watching the two quieted down and looked at the elf expectantly. "A slight tingling in my fingers; I think its affecting me." The men watching sighed and started to laugh once again, but right then Gimli started slurring his words in a way Erynell could not understand and he fell backwards. Erynell laughed with the rest as the blond elf smirked a bit.

"Game over." He said.

Erynell returned her attention to her drink, knowing that it would only be respectful for her to finish it. She sighed. Then, one man she had not noticed in the room before sat down opposite her at the table.

"I believed none of Elven kind approve of that particular brew." The man had long dark hair and wore earth-toned traveling clothes. A beautiful pendant hung on a silver strand from his neck. As he spoke he gestured to her goblet.

"It does not suit my tastes, unlike-" Erynell started to reply before she realized she had no idea what she was saying. She's completely forgotten what it was that she wanted to refer to. She let out a frustrated groan and the man raised his eyebrows.

"I am known to many as Estel, but here people refer to me as Aragorn." He smiled, lines around his eyes crinkling in a friendly way.

"Erynell." She spoke her name and it still sounded unfamiliar. Her eyes travelled behind Aragorn after she spoke her name and saw Eowyn coming towards them with two goblets in her hand. Aragorn lifted his chin for a moment before realizing her attention had been drawn elsewhere. He stood up when he saw Eowyn behind him and graciously took the goblet from her hands. Tipping it to her, he swallowed a gulp of the liquid, making Erynell cringe.

After a few moments of being alone again and even fewer sips of her drink, Erynell heard a small banging noise. She looked up. There was Gandalf standing before her, looking down with crinkled eyes.

"You, my dear, should be resting." He said softly. She could tell that he was not really upset at her, more amused than anything.

"How can I rest and miss such joyous celebration?" She asked him, smiling and gesturing around the hall.

"True, true. Elves are known to enjoy merriment now and again." Gandalf chuckled and leaned on his staff. His head lifted when stomping and clapping reverberated through the great hall and he chuckled when two child-like adults (now the second she'd seen in her memories) started up a merry drinking song.

_"Oh you can search far and wide,  
You can drink the whole town dry,  
But you'll never find a beer so brown,_

_Oh you'll never find a beer so brown,_

_As the one we drink in our hometown,  
As the one we drink in our hometown.  
You can drink your fancy ales,  
You can drink them by the flagon,  
But the only brew for the brave and true...  
...Comes from the Green Dragon!"_

"Gandalf?" She turned to the wizard laughing heartily at the performance. "What are those two? I've now seen men, elves, dwarves, and wizards, but I know not what they resemble."

"Those, my lady, are Hobbits. The tall one is Merry and the shorter one is Pippin." He studied her face, curious as to why the elf was asking. After a short moment, he came to a realization. "They are not the first ones you've come across. Tell me." Erynell was surprised by his sudden seriousness, but she told all she could about the two hobbits she'd seen before being taken by the Haradrim.

"Sam and Frodo, thank the Valar." He looked up at the ceiling and sighed in relief.

"They probably would have been caught with me if not for the tree-men. Well, the Haradrim called them Men of Gondor. If they had not ambushed the army, the Hobbits would not have gotten away." She smiled, thinking that this would be good news to tell the wizard. Instead of looking more reassured, his face drained of color.

"I must go." He said and departed once again. Erynell watched him speak hurriedly to Aragorn, who in turn went to the blond elf and a very drunk Gimli and told them what Gandalf had said. She could hear it from that distance.

"Gandalf believes Sam, Frodo, and The Ring were taken to Gondor. He does not know what is to happen." Aragorn spoke to the two carefully. The blond elf stood up straighter.

"We must help them, let us depart and save them from the hearts of men." He started to stand Gimli up and push him away.

"Calm down, Legolas." Aragorn said. His eyes flickered around and landed on Erynell who was silently watching. He knew she was eavesdropping so he switched to Elvish, which she could not understand. Legolas' eyes found hers as well and he bowed his head to her before paying more attention to Aragorn and continuing their conversation. Erynell's eyes flickered back down to her table and she stood, knowing it was time for her to leave.

**Reviews:**

**jdsnape: Thank you, beautiful person, have a wonderful day and I'm glad you're enjoying this!**

**Jaysong of ThunderClan: And I love you! Thanks for the Follow, I hope you keep enjoying this! And I'll try to update a lot as long as I can get around my studies, too!**

**BerryLeaf: I know what you're saying. I completely agree that characters should be kept in character even in fanfiction, and I hope it doesn't seem like it's "love at first sight" in this one! Feel free to tell me whenever you think I need to turn it down a notch!**

**Hachilotrfreak: Maybe I'll still be able to please your tastes with this particular legomance. Thank you for trying it out, anyway!**


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Lord of the Rings however sad it may be. I only hope to represent Tolkien's work with an OC of my own. What you do not recognize from the books or movies or appendixes or anything else of Tolkien's belongs to me.

"Not all who wander are lost." ~J.R.R. Tolkien

Pe ú-aphedidhir; avon teithad.

4.

Weeks passed at Edoras, but Erynell felt that she belonged there no more than she did on her first day. She realized that elves were treated differently than those of the race of man, and though she was regarded differently, Erynell knew that she held no respect from the Rohirrim men. She spent much of her time with the wizard Gandalf, asking about Middle Earth and the One Ring everyone was so drastically afraid of.

She had learned a great deal more about the current events taking place, but Gandalf told Erynell only as much as one could expect. Some of her questions were put aside coolly by Gandalf. She knew that no one fully trusted her because of her memory loss and because of what Gandalf had seen inside of her mind while at Helm's Deep. She had begun to even mistrust herself because of everyone's suspicion.

No one knew who or what she did before she lost her memories, and Legolas did not recognize her as one of the Woodland Realm, though her name definitely hinted that her origins were in a forest such as Mirkwood where Legolas was prince.

In passing, the men of Rohan would either ignore her completely or bow their head in her direction. Aragorn and Gandalf were very kind when she encountered them, exchanging words of greeting and smiles that would get Erynell through the days. When Gimli had finally learned of her race, he too withdrew a small bit, acting more proud around her than the others. She noticed some of that same hubris when the dwarf was around Legolas, the other resident elf at Edoras, but even their relationship seemed friendlier than what her and Gimli's had become.

Then of course, there was Legolas himself. In encounters with him, Legolas would bow his head in much of the same way as the men but with more of an indifferent aura upon him. Erynell, thinking that all elves might be that high and mighty, would also bow her head and continue on her way. Even though they were of the same species, Legolas and Erynell shared no kindred.

Being driven away from the populous of most of Rohan had caused her to be somewhat of a recluse. Most of her time was spent in her room, looking out of the window at the rolling plains beyond the borders of Edoras. This caused her mind to wander, wondering what the Haradrim had done after arriving at Isengard to find it "taken care of" as Eowyn had said to her at Helm's Deep.

Erynell could be found spending time with Eowyn when not in her room. Eowyn held the respect of Erynell unlike many whom she had met before. The flame in the heart of the niece of Théoden King was inspirational and comforting, though it was doused when Eowyn was present around men.

Erynell realized that like herself, Eowyn was treated differently because she was of the fairer sex. The men acted around her as if she was fragile and anything they said could shatter her. In fact, when most women were around the men, conversations would go from war and evil to small talk about the weather and how beautiful one is.

More than anything, Eowyn wanted to fight just like the men in order to protect her home, her king, and her way of life. Whenever alone with Erynell, Eowyn would spout off in another rant of how "war is not just the realm of men" and "my heart is no different from theirs. I will fight!"

Sometimes, Eowyn would urge Erynell to fight as well, showing her some weaponry techniques with the sword of the fallen Theodred, which had apparently been lost after his death. After enough pestering, Erynell had agreed to fight if it came to that, but knowing that many would die, probably herself and Eowyn included, she hoped that it would not.

After a few more days of being in the kingdom of great horse masters, Erynell decided that it would do her good to learn how to ride a horse. With borrowed riding boots from the closet of Eowyn, she entered the stables one day. She was apprehensive because in her memory, never had she been near to a horse, and she had no idea what to do around them.

"What do you need, my lady?" A voice startled her and she turned, looking at Prince Éomer saddling the horse next to him. While looking around at all the horses in the stalls, she hadn't noticed she was alone. He smiled a bit. "Elven kind usually do not startle as you do."

Erynell nodded and suppressed a smile of embarrassment at his words.

"I wish to ride, but I do not know how." She said to him quietly.

"You have never ridden a horse?" He asked. His voice held a tone of surprise which made her cross her arms in annoyance.

"Not that I can remember." His smile dropped at her tone of voice and a look of suspicion flashed over his face as she mentioned her memory.

"I can have one of my men show you. I am late for my patrol." Éomer mounted his horse and rode out of the stable passed her after calling to a man right outside the door. She sighed; it was a guard that had been following her much of the day. King Théoden had probably ordered him to keep a close eye on her. Why could the King not trust Gandalf at his word that she meant no harm?

"My lady, Éomer has mentioned that you wish to learn to ride a horse." The guard looked at her expectantly. _More like ordered you to teach me, _the elf thought to herself. To the man she merely nodded and smiled. With her affirmation of his words, he looked around at the horses. Reaching out, he opened the stall directly behind Erynell.

"This is Léod, a dun horse." Léod's ears perked at his name, but his head stayed down in a depressing manner. Erynell noticed the tan color of his coat contrasting with the black of his mane and tail. He had small black striped above his hooves and a pink scar on his shoulder. The guard noticed her apprehension.

"Léod became very docile after the fall of Háma, his rider. You have nothing to fear." The guard assured her.

"Háma?" Erynell looked at the guard immediately. He barely glanced at her as he saddled Léod.

"Yes, Lady Erynell. You knew him?"

"I knew _of _him. His son, Háleth, was wounded at Helm's Deep." Erynell remembered the boy, not knowing if he was able to walk again or not.

"Háma fell defending the gate of the fortress when the orcs broke through." The guard placed the bridal on Léod, who was now standing erect, though still calm. "Now," he said, "to ride sidesaddle, place your right foot through the stirrup here," the guard moved Erynell to the horse's left side, "and lift up to sit on his back."

Erynell attempted what he had said, and she squirmed on Léod's back. Sitting on a horse like that was very uncomfortable, and Léod kept shifting below her.

"Stop moving like that, Lady Erynell, you are causing him to be uneasy." The guard grabbed Léod's reins before he might bolt. Erynell slid off his back in relent.

"That is very uncomfortable." She paused, still wanting to ride. "Might you teach me how to ride like a man such as yourself?" The guard looked down, averting her eyes.

"That would be very improper, my lady, and you are not clothed in such a way for it to be possible without, er, scandal." Erynell chuckled quietly at his words.

"I do not belong here as of yet, anyway. I shall change into something more suitable and return if you will _wait here._" Erynell emphasized her last words, giving the innuendo that she knew he had been following her. The guard looked away again but nodded. Erynell turned away and rushed into the room of Lady Eowyn.

"I need some clothes." Erynell spoke to the blonde woman who was standing at her window.

"What is wrong with the dress I lent you?" Eowyn turned around with a cocked eyebrow and a hand on her hip.

"I wish to learn to ride a horse, not sidesaddle, and the guard who will teach me mentioned that this dress was less than suitable for straddling Léod." Erynell smiled.

"Alright." Eowyn dug into her closet beside her bed. "Here, these are some of my mother's old rising clothes. She refused to ride sidesaddle as well." Eowyn handed her clothing consisting of leather leggings, a blouse that looked like the torso part of a dress, and a long slit overcoat to hang over the sides of a horse. Erynell curtsied to Eowyn quickly and rushed to her room to change.

When Erynell returned to the stables, the guard looked at her strangely, probably recognizing the garments the elf was now wearing. However, he also noticed how well the clothes fit her.

The guard taught her how to mount and walk the horse. Léod was steady and tranquil as the guard said, and seemed to be enjoying the time out of his stall since he wasn't ridden much after the death of his rider. Erynell noticed that riding was not as smooth as it looked and she was constantly swayed from side to side. The guard had to keep reminding her to sit straight and to trust the horse's movements as she would her own.

After a few days, Erynell finally got the hang of the walk and the guard, whose name she finally learned was Gamling, had taught her how to trot and canter. If Erynell got off center on Léod's back, the movements would become jolting and jarring, though she was pretty good with riding.

Every day after the lessons, Erynell would give Léod an apple she had kept from dinner, and slowly she felt that he was starting to accept her as a new rider. The thought had crossed her mind, though, that she had simply accepted him as her ride. Even with that thought, Erynell learned how to gallop at full speed beside Gamling and then without him.

As captain of King Théoden's personal guard, he was very uptight and serious. Erynell was barely able to wait until she could ride without him, and enjoyed it when that time finally came. She rode Léod for a few hours every day, for both of their benefits; she enjoyed spending time with one who could not judge her as the citizens of Edoras could, and he was able to get exercise.

One night after a particularly long ride with Léod, Erynell passed the door to which she knew Gandalf and some of the others he had traveled with were staying. She heard a commotion and was about to keep walking when her ears pricked at a pained and strangled cry and then something rolling around on the ground.

"Fool of a Took!" There was an angry whisper directly on the other side of the door and Erynell jumped back slightly, before racing to her room to rest.

The next morning, Erynell learned that Gandalf was gone along with one of the dancing hobbits she had barely met. Pippin had apparently caused some trouble and was forced to go to Gondor for reasons unknown to Erynell. Merry, Pippin's closest friend was devastated, and after watching his companion ride away towards Minas Tirith, he had run into Erynell with tears streaming down his cheeks.

"Pardon me, my lady." He sniffled and looked at the floor. For some reason, Erynell felt compelled to bend down and lift his chin.

"Chin up, Sir Merry. Such close friends could never be parted for long. There will be reason to sing again soon, I am sure." Merry smiled at her words but choked on his tears some more. Erynell drew him into a hug and let him sob onto his shoulder for a while. His tiny body shook in her arms and they sat there for a while, letting his tears dry and his spirits rise a bit.

"Thank you, Lady Elf." Merry smiled widely at her and then raced down the hall. Erynell stayed kneeling, wondering when she had become so motherly and then wondering if she was a mother. She shook her head at the thought. Erynell knew she wasn't a mother; something inside told her so, but even then she felt protective of the hobbit and swore that she would look after him.

Erynell stood up as Eowyn rounded the corner in front of her and raced forewords.

"There you are! Come, the armory is empty and Gandalf has left. Battle will be upon us soon. You need weapons." Eowyn grabbed her wrist and pulled back the way she came.

"I've never used a weapon!" Erynell followed, stumbling, but unsure of what Eowyn wanted of her.

"You don't _remember_ ever using a weapon. Maybe you have before and you'll remember how to do it then. If not then you can learn!" Eowyn stopped suddenly and turned to the elf. "You _did _agree to fight beside me." Erynell relented at the blazing gaze of her friend.

The armor was down a few corridors and behind a locked door that Eowyn had somehow procured the key to. Inside were walls of spears, swords, bows and arrows, and practically any other medieval weapon imaginable. Erynell cringed when she passed a collection of maces, knowing that anyone using one of those was cruel. Passing war axes, she felt almost as much apprehension, as though something deep inside her was deathly afraid of its swing.

In front of her was the collection of swords. Their quality varied greatly along their stands. One in particular drew in the attention of Erynell. She reached out and grabbed it by the sheath. It was not the most ornate, and not an old rusted blade such as many of the ones in front of her. She withdrew it from its sheath and studied it.

The hilt was simple, with tightly bound leather over the steel. There were runes that Erynell had never seen before pressed into the leather, with faded green ink making them more noticeable. The blade itself was white and the same runes from the hilt were printed down the cool metal of the blade to the tip of the sword. There were designs etched into the metal where the rune ended, making the tip serrated and resembling the pattern found on a leaf.

Eowyn approached Erynell and stated, looking down at the blade. "It's been here many years. The wielders of this sword have always returned from battle. Let us hope you fare as well as they."

Erynell sheathed the sword and smiled, hiding it under her overcoat. She wore the riding clothes Eowyn had given her everywhere. The elf found they were more comfortable than dresses and much more maneuverable. Before leaving the armory, Erynell also took a few short knives that could be thrown since she might need more protection than the sword could give her at some point.

The two retreated, locking the armory behind them and then separated; Erynell went to the stables and Eowyn who returned the key to where she had retrieved it from in the first place.

With Léod, Erynell was able to practice riding with a sword at her side. Whenever anyone passed, she was careful to make sure it was hidden from sight, though as a general rule she liked to ride away from people. In practice, she would draw the sword mid-gallop and hold it aloft before her to get used to its weight and the feel of the draw.

Léod ran faster when he saw the sword, too, for he was a battle horse who knew that a sword meant caution and most of all, power, though he was a little confused as to why his rider was holding a blade when there were no enemies to cut down.

After bequeathing Léod with an apple, Erynell went into a quiet part of the King's gardens where Eowyn told her she sometimes practiced at. It was a clearing surrounded by what were basically the only trees in Edoras, and it was comforting to Erynell that they were there.

The elf had taken a small target from the archery range down the path from the King's house and placed it in the clearing before her. She threw the small knives she stole at the target, careful so as to not hit the trees, and happily hit the target more times than not. For a few hours, she continued throwing and retrieving knives until sundown, when she hid them in her boots and went into the great hall for supper, leaving the sword at the roots of a tree where she knew it would be safe for about half an hour.

Erynell was correct in thinking that the sword would not be taken, though it seemed to have been shifted a few centimeters. Instead of simply laying next to the tree where she had set it carefully, some of the roots that were above ground seemed to be hiding the sword from view. Erynell was puzzled but she grabbed the sword from the little nook it rested in and started holding it up in front of her.

From then on, every night directly before and after dinner, Erynell practiced her knife-throwing skills and her sword play techniques.

She was improving greatly with the knives, now usually hitting the target's center when she threw them, though a moving target that was actually fighting back would be much harder to hit than the small, harmless target in front of her.

It was the sword which Erynell was having trouble with. Practicing with it tired her greatly and she was only able to do it for a short amount of time. It felt cumbersome and strange when she held it aloft and swung it around. How could she use it in battle against orcs and not on a garden against the air?

After a few minutes of practice one night, she realized that someone was watching her from the shadows. She dropped the sword immediately and looked around. Behind one tree, the one she usually placed the sword under each night, the shadow seemed displaced and out of shape compared to the others. She glared in that direction the figure that she could barely see spoke.

"You are unlike any elf I have seen." He says, stepping into the light. By the blonde hair and pointed ears, she recognized Legolas. Bending down, she picked up her sword again, him watching her the entire time and her watching him.

"You are the only elf I have seen." She crossed her arms with the blade in hand. Legolas smiled slightly, his blue eyes crinkling around the edges at her remark.

"May I see your sword, my lady?" He asked her, holding out his hand. She nodded and handed it to him. "I have met this blade before, many have. It is Hathelas, meaning Leaf-Blade, forged by the elves. How did you come upon it?"

"I got it from the armory." Erynell said honestly. He handed Hathelas back to her.

"And what are you planning to wield it against?" Legolas asked, looking around the clearing at her invisible enemy.

"Whatever I must." She said. Legolas nodded, not as all surprised by her answer as she thought he would be.

"And what is it they call you?" Legolas was looking at the trees as he spoke with his head tilted to the side, as if listening. Erynell was surprised that he had not heard her name before from Gandalf, Aragorn, or Gimli.

"I am Erynell." She said slowly.

"You sound as though you are trying to believe it." Legolas narrowed his eyes at her and regarded her with more curiosity.

"Gandalf pulled it out of my head so it must be true. Though of all the things to find in there," Erynell lifted her hand and tapped on the side of her head, "I am probably the least concerned with a name I don't even recognize." Legolas nodded at her distress and then motioned to her sword once more.

"You are not very able with that." He pointed out.

"I realized."

"I can help you." Legolas surprised Erynell once again with his words.

"You do not think it wrong?" She asked him warily; knowing that any other man would probably just take the sword away and force her not to fight.

"I am not a man with their simpleminded ideals." He spoke as if reading her mind. "The edhil of Mirkwood all fight; elleth and eledhyn alike."

"The what?" Erynell asked him, realizing he was speaking partly in Sindarin and not Westron which she was accustomed to.

"Apologies, Lady Erynell. I stated that, 'The _elves_ of Mirkwood all fight; _lady-elf _and _male-elf_ alike.'"

With that Legolas started teaching her how to use Hathelas as an extension of herself to fight. Every night after dinner he would approach her and improve her stance, attacks, and blocks with the sword. Every knight they would spar and though she no longer became tired wielding her sword a lot, Legolas would have her defeated in mere minutes.

On the last night they would be able to practice, Erynell had actually held up against him for nearly ten minutes and was extremely proud of herself. She was going to make the remark that either she was getting better or he was getting worse when the two elves heard yelling from the Golden Hall. Both elves ran into the building, leaving their weapons among the trees.

"Gondor has called for aid!" It was Aragorn who had been yelling after seeing a bonfire light up in the distant mountains. Now the hall was looking at Théoden expectantly.

"And Rohan will answer." The King replied, staring into he eyes of every man standing around him. At that moment, Eowyn and Erynell also caught each other's eyes. A silent agreement was passed in between them. Erynell's eyes swiveled to a pair of blue ones also looking directly at her. She nodded at Legolas politely as if nothing was amiss, and then walked up to Eowyn who was speaking with the Théoden.

"Lady Erynell and I shall ride with you to the edge of battle to see you off." Eowyn smiled at her uncle whose eyes flashed to Erynell.

"But you must stay here and rule in mine and Éomer's stead." He spoke, returning his attention to his niece.

"I cannot bear to imagine you leaving now and not being able to see you ride into battle as is custom. I must see you off, Uncle." Eowyn was completely sincere and Erynell knew that no matter what, her uncle would come first; not Éomer, Erynell, or even Sauron.

"You may escort us and then return as soon as you are able." Théoden kissed Eowyn on the cheek.

"I will be anxiously waiting for you to come back, as well, Uncle."

When it was finally time to ride out the next day, Erynell saddled Léod up and hid her secret armor in the saddlebags laden across his back. Her sword was strapped under a rolled up mat next to the saddle and she had a lot of food in a rucksack on her back. Erynell fed Léod an apple from her hand and started feeling anxious. Her eyes were darting around at the many men around her. _Who here will live after the battle? Who will fall to never see again? Will any survive? Is there any hope?_

Gimli was smoking next to her, sitting on a barrel while Legolas saddled the white horse they shared.

"Not to worry, Lass, we will find our way back to you." Gimli addressed her and patted her shoulder. Erynell smiled and nodded. _I hope I find my way back as well, _she thought to herself. But her mouth and her mind said it differently.

"I will anxiously wait for the moment of your return home." Speaking, her eyes flashed to those of Legolas, who was then watching her. As their gazes caught, he turned away from her dark brown eyes and placed the last sidesaddle on the horse.

Everyone mounted their horses and rode away from Edoras. Many would never see the Golden Hall again.

**Reviews:**

**Tiggerlilly: I'm so glad you like it! I really love writing it!**

**Jaysong of ThunderClan: Aww shucks! Thank you! I hope you keep reading! I love it when people not only comment on the story but on my writing. **

**BerryLeaf: Hahaha, nice word choice. I promise this Legomance won't turn out so GROSS!**

**stella: It took a lot of practice writing to get it where I don't rush things so much. Thanks a ton for the compliments, I hoped you liked this update!**


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own Lord of the Rings however sad it may be. I only hope to represent Tolkien's work with an OC of my own. What you do not recognize from the books or movies or appendixes or anything else of Tolkien's belongs to me.

One more thing before the chapter: Yes it has been quite a while, but I had finals and then Christmas and I was too busy to have a day where I could just sit down and write. I'm still alive thank you, and I come with this gift: one extra-long chapter. Happy Holidays!

"Not all who wander are lost." ~J.R.R. Tolkien

Pe ú-aphedidhir; avon teithad.

5.

The company traveling from Edoras flew with the speed of the Valar across plains and hills to reach their destination. It would be a four day ride to Dwimorberg where the armies allied to aid Gondor would meet before traveling to Minas Tirith. Each rider in the company was losing faith, losing sleep, and gaining apprehension at the thought of the oncoming battle. Tensions arose with each hoof beat stepping them closer to their doom.

Eowyn and Erynell also felt the party's ill-will. However, their own apprehension was perhaps worsened by thoughts of their common purpose.

"Lady Eowyn, why do you accompany us to the horrors of battle?" Soldiers would ask one after another. Always Eowyn replied with the same excuse.

"My guest and I are riding to the encampment for luck so you may all return to us safely. Tradition calls for it." The men bought this easily and practically fell off of their horses when Eowyn would bow her head and flutter her eyelashes.

"You should not tease them so!" Erynell bent over to Eowyn atop their horses after another unfortunate young man rode away from them gaily.

"If I do not then how could we get rid of them so quickly?" Eowyn laughed and flipped her golden hair out of her face.

"Tell them of our plan, then. It would drive them off soon enough." Erynell was joking of course. If anyone found out about their plan, they would be practically thrown back the way they came.

"They would think us insane!" Eowyn cried and drew the attention of a soldier walking nearby. He turned to them with concern in his eyes only to have his attention caught elsewhere.

"Make camp here!" King Théoden called back from the front of the procession. In all their teasing and bantering, the two women had not noticed the sun sink low to the horizon and the lengthening of shadows surrounding them. Erynell and Eowyn dismounted their horses and stepped down to help as they could.

"The grove of trees behind us, meet me there with your weapons tonight." Eowyn whispered in passing to the elf. The two had been practicing as often as they were able in secret. The hobbit, Merry, sometimes would join them also, yet he did not know what the girls were training for. He, however, was determined to be the best Esquire of Rohan there ever was.

With the sword, Erynell was proud to have bested Merry, but not so much with Eowyn. The princess had been practicing for much longer than Erynell, though she still did not compare to Legolas.

Erynell had thought of going to Legolas and asking for help with her sword, but that would only alert him to the fact that she was training for this particular battle. He had barely spoken ten words to her aside from sword fighting tips. She had no idea what he was really like and did not know whether she could trust him not to turn her in. With those thoughts, she withheld herself from going to him for aid and simply kept fighting with Eowyn and Merry.

"Dead." Eowyn said as her sword fell to Erynell's chest. Erynell closed her eyes and sighed.

_I'm not nearly ready for this. I am going to die. Why did I ever agree to this?_ Then she opened her eyes when she felt the pressure on her chest drop. Eowyn was looking at her with concern.

"What is wrong?" She asked. Erynell shook her head, not wanting Eowyn to know that she was having second thoughts. Eowyn had nothing to worry about; she was ready for this and would protect her uncle even if it meant her death. Perhaps that was what scared the elf so; she was not quite ready to die for the people she barely knew.

"Nothing. You beat me again. Now it is Merry's turn." Erynell turned around and raised Hathelas once more.

"I would be honored to succeed in killing the lady, though it has not come to pass yet." He mock bowed, accidently sticking his sword into a tree branch as he swung his arm. Erynell laughed through a slight pain she felt in her gut. She helped Merry remove his sword and then rubbed the cut in the branch with her hand. The pain in her gut subsided.

"_Now_ I am prepared to die, my lady." Merry smiled and swung his sword at her. Erynell leapt back to avoid his dull blade and giggled a bit.

The two fought for a time, Merry almost constantly having to use defensive stances against the elf's ongoing attacks. He thought she was being a slight bit more aggressive than earlier but he was happy he was able to hold up.

When one of the trio started to yawn and grow drowsy, they all started to perform with less accuracy and precision. Erynell found that she could last the longest. After she regained all of her strength at Edoras, she found that she slept less and less, and realized that elves did not sleep unless it was necessary to their wellbeing. Still, she obliged to quit practicing when Eowyn or Merry started falling asleep where they stood.

The three also slept quite close. Eowyn and Erynell had invited Merry to set up camp near their tent and they spent most of their time together. Merry was also the one that kept Eowyn and Erynell in high spirits. He was a jokester and was good at making people laugh. However, Erynell knew that without his companion, Pippin, he was quite depressed. So, she tried to keep him in high spirits as well, and they were coping together.

The company journeyed on for three more days to Dwimorberg. There were high cliffs leading to their destination and a thin road that wound steadily upward, going back and forth. Then when they passed under the shadow of the mountain, the company grew even more fearful.

"What is this place?"

"What evil resides here?"

"Must this be our camp before war?"

Many men were asking these questions amongst themselves, doubting the decisions of their king. If they were not loyal, most would jump back on their horses and ride away to anywhere but where they were. Erynell felt the cold chills, too. She trembled looking up at the cliff faces and the jagged mountain slopes. Many people noticed her distress once again.

"My lady, you will be safe. There is nothing to worry about." The first to approach her was Gamling, the captain of Théoden's guard and the one who left her Léod.

"I am reassured, thank you, sir." She responded. Often Gamling would speak to her in passing. He was simply kind. Still, Eowyn was always teasing her.

"He seems a bit old for you, _my lady._" Eowyn mocked her in their tent.

"He is kind, _Princess_." Erynell sneered at her friend in retaliation.

"And he is sixty-three years old. And he is compassionate towards you. And he gave you a horse." Eowyn laughed.

"Eowyn." Erynell sighed and leaned back.

"I am only teasing. Gamling is a very honorable man. His wife died long ago and he and my father were great friends." Eowyn smiled with her memories. Erynell did not say anything. She often stayed silent at the mention of Eowyn's parents. "And anyway we don't even know if he is your senior. You are an elf! You could be thousands of years _my _senior and still be sharing a tent with me!"

"And yet I remember none of it."

"You will though. Amnesia is not usually permanent; especially when you have a great wizard to help you." Eowyn lay back onto her cot as well and said nothing else. After a while, Erynell figured her to be asleep so she exited the tent.

The moon was just barely shining over the top of the mountain. The eerie, pale glow succeeded in giving everything a surrealistic yet beautiful shine. Looking around at everything bathed in the light, Erynell found she could hear a whisper in the back of her mind. She was drawn to the edge of the cliff faced and saw a great pine branch emerging from a hidden clove of rocks below her. Cautiously, with knowledge that if she fell she would not be able to get back up, Erynell climbed down a bit.

The elf did lose her grip when one rock she tried to hold broke off. She fell back, too afraid to scream and let go of the rock which she heard echo down the cliff she tried to balance on the small ledge where her feet rested, but she ended up tipping too far backwards.

When she closed her eyes, she expected to fall to her death. Instead, she landed with a rush of air on the very tree branch she had been trying to investigate. The branch shuddered and the elf felt as if she was being laughed at. The pines below her were soft, tickling her as she sat up.

"Thanks." She spoke out loud, not knowing why she felt compelled to thank the tree that caught her. She was amazed that she had fallen just right so that the branch would catch her. When she had looked down from her position, the branch was not directly below her. In her fright she must have kicked off the wall with enough force to land her directly on the branch.

Erynell slowly crawled over the branch to the clove where she set her feet and stood, rubbing the tree bark. She smiled at the tree, surprised that such a little thing could hold her weight.

"You appear young, but you feel very old. Your roots are weak but your aura is strong. Grow tall." She didn't think as she spoke to the tree, reassuring it. "This rock must not have many nutrients and the water that falls mostly misses you. How do you survive?"

Erynell smiled and looked around before nearly jumping out of her skin.

_Determination._

The voice came from inside her head. It was croaky and deep, and Erynell looked around in surprise.

_I must need to sleep tonight. Perhaps I am unwell._ She shook her head and climbed back towards camp.

Erynell gripped the edge of the cliff, knowing she was not going to be able to pull herself up.

_I haven't felt this tired since I needed healing. _She frowned and closed her eyes.

_One…_

_Two…_

_Three…_

The elf yanked up as hard as she could and used her feet to try and find catches along the cliff edge. She was about to fall back down when a hand came out of nowhere. She grabbed it without thinking and was pulled up like she was made of air. She was light, being an elf, but the person who pulled her up must have been strong still.

"What were you doing, hanging from a cliff?" Legolas spoke as Erynell stood.

"I was making a new friend." She sighed and dropped her shoulders. Legolas looked over the edge of the cliff and smiled.

"A strong little tree."

"And old." Erynell spoke with deep breaths. Legolas looked back and forth between her and the tree. He smiled slightly at her.

"You must be from the woodland realm if you can speak to him." His bright blue eyes, shining in the moonlight, looked excited for the first time she had seen. For once he did not look cold and calculative.

"I do not know what you mean. Trees cannot talk."

"There are other ways to communicate." He smiled and turned away. Before he left, he turned back slightly. "That tree is rooting for you." Erynell smiled a bit, still confused, and returned to her tent where she did sleep.

"Erynell." Eowyn was shaking her. Dim light was seeping through the tent that Erynell saw as she returned to consciousness. "You sleep with your eyes open."

"I usually don't sleep." Erynell replied and sat up, running her fingers through her dark hair.

"Make preparations, tonight we _leave._" Eowyn emphasized the word so Erynell would understand. They were going to sneak away, change to appear as men, and then ride to battle.

"Is the company riding out tomorrow?" She asked her friend.

"At the crack of dawn." Eowyn picked up her sword and swung it around. The blade separated the air with a _woosh_. "Let's go practice." Erynell picked up her sword and knives and followed Eowyn cautiously outside.

A group of men gathered at the top of the cliff, looking down at the growing number of tents below them. Erynell listened to their conversation as she followed Eowyn.

"They are coming less frequently and with fewer men. There is no hope." One said, taking off his helmet and running his hand through his hair.

"We cannot face another army like the one at Helm's Deep and this one will be five times the size." Another dropped to his knees. Erynell shook her head of the negative thoughts and ran to catch up with Eowyn who had just disappeared behind some trees. As she broke through the tree line, she felt a point on her back and immediately dropped her sword.

"On guard, elf." Eowyn's voice was deeper, much like a young man. Erynell laughed and bent down to pick up Hathelas. She unsheathed the sword and the two started sparring. They spent most of the day like that before sitting in the trees to talk about who they will pretend to be as men.

"You shall call me Dernhelm; Young Squire of the North." Eowyn smiled and started cleaning her blade with the hem of her dress.

"Call me Wynléas; Hopeless Volunteer of Snowbourn." Erynell leaned back and let her face be shone on by a small ray of sunshine that was soon covered by cloud, just as the Rohirrim rays of hope were quickly fading.

The two practiced their deep voices and back stories with each other until the sun started to sink below the horizon.

"We should go pack." Erynell stood, sheathing Hathelas. Eowyn nodded and did the same with her sword.

"It is time."

Walking back to their tent, a few men approached to say farewell and that the ladies would see them again. Said ladies were not so sure, but exchanged pleasantries all the same.

When they returned to their tent, they found Merry dressed in his armor. Eowyn bent and adjusted his helmet.

"There! A true Esquire of Rohan." Eowyn smiled at him. He exhaled, excited and terrified at the same time. Then he drew his sword quickly, almost hitting Eowyn. Eowyn jumped back, laughing while the hobbit looked at her sheepishly.

"Sorry. It isn't all that dangerous. It isn't even sharp." Merry looked at his blade with a bit of disappointment. Eowyn crossed her arms.

"Well, that's no good. You won't kill many Orcs with a blunt blade. Come on." Eowyn ushered Merry back the way that her and Erynell came. "To the Smithy, go!" She called at him and nearly pushed him away. He passed Éomer and Gamling who were finishing a meal by a crackling fire when he hurried away.

"You should not encourage him." Éomer slurped on the last bit of his soup.

"You should not doubt him." Eowyn crossed her arm and approached her brother. Erynell could imagine steam coming from her ears.

"I do not doubt his heart….Only the reach of his arm." Gamling stifled a laugh and almost choked on his soup. Eowyn then turned on the both of them.

"Why should Merry be left behind? He has as much cause to go to war as you. Why can he not fight for those he loves?" Eowyn spoke the last part to herself and tears suddenly shone in her eyes. She turned away from the soldiers as they looked at each other curiously and threw back the covering of her tent to pack her things.

Erynell had gone to Léod to get away from the emotional and passionate Eowyn. When she passed, Gamling looked at her apologetically and kept eating his soup, and Éomer looked at her with a bit of concern. As she fed Léod a ripe, red apple, she knew that her worry must've been showing on her face. Erynell felt a hand on her shoulder and she turned around. Léod lifted his head to stare at the newcomer. It was Éomer.

"I give you my apologies, my lady, if my words offended you." He looked down and bowed his head. Erynell bowed hers in return.

"You are forgiven, though I was simply worried."

"Do not worry too much, Lady Erynell. I'm sure that many will return. Yes, some will not and it could be anyone but-" He stopped at the look on her face. "What I meant was, you'll be in good hands with whoever comes back no matter who it is." He sighed. Erynell smiled but was less reassured than ever.

_How many times must I hear variations of this same speech?_ She thought. Éomer looked around and left, thinking that he helped while he did not.

Erynell placed her weapons under the saddlebags and knapsacks on Léod's back and once again felt a presence behind her. She turned slowly, hiding Hathelas behind her back. This time, the visitor was Legolas.

"I know what you are planning to do and I would advise against it." His blue eyes were narrowed. Erynell didn't know what to say.

"Oh." She simply said, looking down.

"You should go back as you planned." He restated.

"I will not. I will defend these people." She said. She simply wanted Legolas to leave.

"A shadow grows in my mind. The outcome of this war will be terrible enough without the bodies of two women on the battlefield." His eyes softened but his words were no less harsh.

"I have faith that I will come through. I made a promise to die for what I believe in." At least she hoped she had faith.

"Do you believe in the race of man? If I am correct, then I am the only elf you've met and Gimli the only dwarf. Do you believe in these men or are they the only ones you are able to believe in?"

"It is the same thing." Erynell crossed her arms and frowned. "I will fight and you will not hinder me. Besides, you are the one that helped me with my fighting."

"I taught you how to defend yourself. If I was aware of this being your goal, I would not have obliged." He frowned as well.

"This was my goal and you did oblige. Now please leave me, I have preparations to make and your words offend me, Master Legolas." Erynell turned back to her horse. Legolas did not say anything else, he just stood there watching her and she could feel it. It was not until Gimli came and said that he needed Legolas that he finally left.

Erynell turned to watch the elf walk away and mentally punished herself.

_That was uncalled for by me. He is a Prince and I spoke to him as my equal._

She was about to return to preparing Léod as if for a long journey but saw Aragorn first leave his tent and then another hooded figure follow him out. She looked at the hooded man in curiosity, wondering who he was before he paused and looked at her as well. Light barely shone under his hood and all she could see was the glint of a golden circlet upon his head, and then when he finally turned away, one pointed ear, not quite tucked under the hood. Her breath caught.

_An elf._

Erynell wished she could go and speak to him, but she held back, figuring that he was some foreign diplomat coming to aid the armies and she might see him again. She was wrong, but she continued with Léod nonetheless.

After finishing, Erynell returned to the tent she shared with Eowyn only to find her friend on her cot, sobbing quietly. She rushed to her side.

"Eowyn, what is wrong?" Erynell was deeply concerned, something terrible must have happened for her friend to be acting in such a way.

"My Lord Aragorn" Eowyn paused to take a breath, "he is deserting us." Erynell looked up and felt her own chest tighten.

_Then there really is no hope, for even the strongest among us are leaving._

Erynell stood and raced out of the tent to see Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli retreating through the mountain pass that so many would not go near. She raced to Léod then and jumped on his back, not thinking. She needed to know if they were really deserting. She passed surprisingly unseen by the men who were gathered at the entrance. They were arguing amongst themselves and were too preoccupied to care who was going through the frightful pass.

_This night has not gone as planned._ Erynell thought to herself looking around. Only after a few hours had Erynell realized that Eowyn would have thought she had run off, too. _If I survive this and if she does as well, then I must find her and explain my reasoning. At least she has Merry._ Her heart went out to the poor hobbit and wondered if he had been able to ride out.

They would be leaving right then; the sun barely peaked over the jagged pale rocks surrounding the pass. Erynell looked around once more. She was aware of the lack of greenery and perhaps that is why she was so apprehensive, though she knew the feeling of dread growing in the pit of her stomach was not one caused by anything within reason.

"What kind of army would linger in such a place?" Erynell heard the gruff voice of Gimli and fell back; knowing that if she could hear the ones she followed, then Legolas could probably hear her, too. Legolas had started into some long talk, explaining who the men of the mountain are, when Erynell fell back and lost their voices.

Even without her hearing, she knew she still followed them because there was one path leading to one place. Before her rose the dark ridges of the mountain, looming closer and closer. She gulped and took a drink of water while Léod's steps shook beneath them. Erynell dismounted and decided to walk beside him, reassuring him that she was there, too.

After a few more hours, Erynell decided to pick up her pace so she wouldn't fall too far behind. Soon after, she heard the voice of Aragorn.

"….The way is shut." Erynell's mind spun. What way? Would they be coming back this way only to see she had followed them? Erynell doubted that they would accept her company readily.

She heard nothing for a short while so she rounded a corner of a jagged rock. A dark stone passage, much like an abyss the way it seemed to swallow the light around it, lead into the mountain. The trio had gone in there, Erynell was sure of it. Léod had bolted as soon as he had seen the passage and left her behind.

Erynell was never more frightened in her entire life. She had not idea what she was frightened of, other than the fact that every five steps there would be another skeleton littering the ground. The elf was constantly thinking about keeping her breathing steady and even. The terror and adrenaline coursing through her veins was causing Erynell to tremble, and every step further into the mist was like walking to an executioner's block.

In her restlessness, Erynell could have sworn the mist was forming ghostly shapes. Pale hands grasped at her, pulling her further into the darkness. Behind her, she thought she could hear a soft pounding like footsteps, but they were too light even for an elf. The more time she spent moving forwards, the more time Erynell was sure something was closing in on her from behind. She was being watched, though she knew not by what.

Every time she turned her head and her hair ran across the back of her neck, Erynell would shiver and nearly freeze in terror. More than once she felt something scurry over her foot and she heard the sharp _crack _of a bone underneath her foot with every step. If she didn't get out soon, Erynell was sure she would collapse and not wake again.

More hours passed and soon Erynell saw a faint green glow in the passage ahead of her. She didn't know what could cast such a light, but she started walking forward; glad to be out of the darkness and the mist. Only when a cruel laughter chilled her to the bone did she slow, and even then she was barely shadowed from the sight before her eyes.

Men of all shapes and sizes and decked out in old battle armor glowed in the giant hall before her. Erynell tried to study them, but the more she looked at any one of them specifically, the more they would disappear before her eyes. These were not natural beings. Over a great chasm to her right, men floated still; not falling, panicking, or even taking notice of the darkness beneath their feet. The elf could see through the men at a glance, and in the middle she saw those whom she had been following.

Erynell was frozen, watching the ghostly figures in front of her in horror. There was one who was being held with Aragorn's sword at his throat. More of the dry, rasping laughter came forth as the apparent leader opened his mouth and before Erynell could catch her breath, the figures started disappearing, only leaving Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli in the center of the room.

All was quiet while Erynell tried to pull herself from near-hysterics and Aragorn turned disappointedly toward his companions. But then a loud, resounding _boom _echoed off the walls as rocks dropped from the ceiling and cracks appeared in the walls.

"Run!" Aragorn yelled, the word meant for his two companions, but Erynell straightened up and heeded the command anyway, especially when some of the rocks raining down on them were not rocks, but skulls.

_What sort of place is this!? _Erynell screamed in her mind, wishing to be back at Edoras where she could be safe. She practically swam through the skulls littering the ground, rising ever higher, tying to bury her and add her own skull to the collection. Still, the burning adrenaline coursing through her told her to just keep swimming and follow the strangled cries of one dwarf who was in front of her.

At one last moment, Erynell spotted at small opening at the top of a tunnel. Knowing this was her only chance, the elf dove foreword and immediately felt herself falling. Erynell slid on the smooth skulls and bit her tongue to keep from crying out in disgust.

Finally, Erynell was lying on solid ground; she could feel it. She started coughing and opened her eyes to see the sky a beautiful blue color and the sun high in the sky. Around her were piles of more bones, dirt, and dust. She stood immediately and started brushing the bone shards and filth from her leggings and overcoat. Then she saw the man, the elf, and the dwarf looking at her.

Legolas smiled slightly, letting Erynell know that he knew she had been following the entire time. Aragorn did not look so pleased. He was frowning and looking around her, probably wondering if Eowyn had followed as well. Then there was Gimli. The dwarf was simply looking on at her in shock. No one said anything; there were more important words to be said later.

Aragorn turned around to look at the river flowing before them. He recognized the fleet of pirates he had been warned about and fell to his knees, knowing that nothing could be done now to stop them. Legolas turned to put a reassuring hand on his arm and Gimli simply rested his arms on the ax that was almost as tall as he was.

Erynell placed a hand to her chest, finally trying to let herself relax after her numerous heart attack in the caves. She turned around to look at the way they had come, and nearly fainted when one of the green apparitions she thought she had seen the last of emerged from the wall. With her gasp, the others tuned to look.

The ghost passed by her without a glance and approached Aragorn who stood up proudly.

"We fight." The figure spoke in rasps. Aragorn smiled and drew his sword. Gimli picked up his ax. Legolas held his bow aloft and Erynell unsheathed her blade which she had thankfully removed from Léod before he bolted. Erynell stood by Legolas as they waited for the ships to approach, finally with what little courage he had before renewed.

When the ships finally got close to shore and the pirates looked on at the company now of four, they laughed sharply, not taking two elves, a dwarf, and a man seriously.

"Prepare to be boarded."

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	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own Lord of the Rings however sad it may be. I only hope to represent Tolkien's work with an OC of my own. What you do not recognize from the books or movies or appendixes or anything else of Tolkien's belongs to me.

"Not all who wander are lost." ~J.R.R. Tolkien

Pe ú-aphedidhir; avon teithad.

6.

Aragorn lead the way onto the closest ship of the secret fleet when all the pirates were finally gone. At first when they found the strange company of four, the pirates only laughed in the faces of those trying to threaten them. Then, the ghosts appeared.

In hoards of green mist, the undead emerged from the side of the mountain. They practically boarded the black ships while the men were still laughing in the face of their destruction. However, once they did see the ghosts, the pirates needed little incentive to throw themselves from their vessels and into the mighty river below.

Erynell was smiling widely. It pleased her greatly that she need not have even lift her sword in defense. Maybe the army of the dead would be a strong asset. Maybe many more men would return home because of it.

The woman was the last to step from solid ground and onto the edge of the ship. But as she was still practically balancing over the surging current below, she froze. The rushing of water and calling of gulls overcame her. She could smell and taste salt as if from the sea. A breeze from behind her blew her hair to the West.

Erynell closed her eyes and saw herself in the water with white shores before her. In her mind, that place seemed heavenly. She wanted nothing more at that minute to let go of the side of the ship and fall straight into the rapids. After all, all rivers lead to the ocean. Then she did let go.

For a split second, she was falling down, the rushing water growing ever louder in her ears. Then, something soft yet hard as steel was clamped around her left wrist and the force of suddenly being pulled up made Erynell slam into the side of the ship where she opened her eyes again and become very confused as to why she was hanging over the edge.

Aragorn was the one to see her close her eyes and decide to fall. He lunged over the side of the vessel and caught her wrist in his hand just in time before she was swept away. Aragorn pulled Erynell up and looked at her with concerned eyes.

"It would be unwise to fall into the water now, my lady." Aragorn spoke to her softly, as if speaking to a child. Slightly ashamed, Erynell tried pulling her wrist from Aragorn's hand. The skin was quickly turning black and blue from how hard he held her, though the bruise was fading as quickly as it was forming. Oh, the healing of elves.

It was her shoulder that made her clench her write fist and bite the inside of her cheek to keep from calling out. She could not move it without it sending fiery pain throughout her left side. Aragorn sighed.

"Forgive me, Lady Erynell. I seemed to have dislocated your shoulder." Aragorn bowed his head and grabbed onto her upper arm.

"You are forgiven, you saved my-" Erynell was cut off by her own scream as Aragorn snapped the arm back in place. She panted, clutching her arm for a good minute. "-life." She finished.

"What was that?" Erynell asked, now sitting against a barrel and looking over the edge of the boat. Legolas turned to answer.

"That is the Sea-longing." Legolas said, looking over the water with a pained expression. Erynell realized that he felt it too.

"Why was I just about to kill myself?" Erynell asked him, knowing that he would be the one with the answers. Instead of giving a straight answer though, he spoke in rhyme.

"Legolas Greenleaf long under the tree,

In joy thou hast lived, Beware the Sea!

If thou hearest the cry of the gull on the shore,

Thy heart shall then rest in the forest no more."

Erynell still did not understand. Gimli looked confused at the rhyme, as if trying to figure out its meaning. Aragorn smiled softly and continued steering the ship, which he had been doing since he reset Erynell's arm.

"That prophecy was spoken to me by the Lady Galadriel of Lothlorien. I assumed she was speaking of my death, but now I know she was speaking of exactly where the Sea-longing would overcome me." Legolas sighed, torn between the forests of his father and the white shores of his people. "All elves will experience this and eventually sail to the white shores across the sea by passage of boat or by death."

"Why were you not overcome as I was?" Erynell asked, not liking the sound of this white shores place.

"I have been preparing for this my entire existence."

"Someone could have told me." Erynell straightened her collar against the icy wind of the river and crossed her arms against her chest. Legolas smiled.

They spent a long time in silence, just sitting on the deck of the ship. Erynell was embarrassed of her actions earlier and did not want to ask any more questions. She was afraid of appearing clueless and incapable. She leaned her head back against the barrel and looked up at the sky.

The atmosphere surrounding them as they sailed to battle was chilling and overall evil. Erynell shivered, though not from the cold since elves do not chill easily, and looked around. The ghostly men would be watching them, invisible. They would be listening and paying attention to everything that was being said. With thoughts of their presence, Erynell remembered the questions she could not help but ask.

"Who, or what, are they? The men under the mountain." Erynell looked first at Gimli who seemed as frightened as she was and then at Legolas.

"They are the undead, pulled to battle in service by Isildur's Heir." Legolas nodded his head at Aragorn. Erynell remembered learning about Isildur in Edoras when she was researching where she was and if there were any hints to her existence. Legolas went on to explain about the men's oath and how they went back on their word, cursed for all eternity until they could be free of their promise. As it was explained to her, Erynell swore she could hear the guttural sounds of laughter on the wind.

"Now for the really important questions" Gimli butted in just then, nodding his head as he spoke. "What are you doing here and why did you follow us?" Erynell froze for a minute, thinking back to Eowyn and again feeling guilty.

"Princess Eowyn was in our camp saying that some soldiers have deserted us and were leaving through the mountain passage. I wanted to verify her words and ended up following you."

"Deserting! No one was deserting! We were off to find reinforcements!" Gimli growled. Erynell smiled at his insistence.

"I know that now. I did not then."

"Then why did you not turn back when you discovered our true purpose." Legolas sat cross legged and suddenly spoke with a harsh tone in his words.

"I do not know." Erynell looked at him straight in the eye. She knew what he was going to say next.

"You could have gone back and avoided this war entirely."

"I will fight. I made a promise and I intend to see it through, no matter the consequences." Erynell felt as if she wanted to throw one of her knives at Legolas if he kept telling her not to do this.

"Then when we arrive you should stay on the ship." Legolas said calmly, somehow thinking Erynell may just change her mind.

"Do not try to persuade me off this course of action. I will see it through." Erynell's tone left no room for discussion and surprisingly, the Elven prince stayed silent after that. Noticing the tension, Aragorn came over with a rough stone.

"I found this on board. Sharpen your blades." He said and handed the stone to Erynell. He quickly demonstrated how to do it, and left her on her own. She sharp metallic sound the stone made on the lade made Erynell cringe, though she continued working with it, glad to be preoccupied so no one could question her motives.

She was almost done with her second to last knife when the first sounds of battle could be heard from afar. Erynell continued working though she became slightly sick to her stomach. Soon after they could hear screams of men and beast alike, and the clanging of swords. Erynell wanted to cover her ears as the shrill shriek of one particular creature caused her to panic and jump over the side of the boat all over again.

"What is that?!" She turned to Aragorn, fear in her eyes.

"The Nazgûl. If you come across one, run, and hide." He responded, drawing his sword. Legolas, Gimli, and Erynell all followed suit and crouched down, hiding behind the ship's railing. The ships all slowed and then froze near the shore. Erynell saw a crowd of orcs gathers a hundred yards from where they would jump off the ship.

"Late! As usual! Get off your ships, you sea rats! There's knife work her needs doing!" One orc called from land. He looked on at the ships while the battle raged behind him.

Suddenly, Aragorn stood up and leapt over the ship onto the ground with a battle cry. The orcs did not know what to think of him and did not even raise their weapons until Legolas and Gimli followed as well.

"….Plenty for the both of us….May the best dwarf win!" Gimli's retreating figure called to Legolas.

The orcs tightened their ranks as the three were still running towards them and looked amongst themselves. Erynell stood up and walked in a small circle, debating on whether she really was going to jump over to the earth. She remembered Legolas trying to keep her on the ship and laughed sharply before jumping off and following the trio into the battle.

As soon as she jumped, there was another mighty roar from directly behind her. The army of the undead quickly overcame her, climbing over themselves in rolling hills looking like ants tying to get to the enemy. The rolling mountain of ghouls swept all the orcs before them away before Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, and Erynell could even reach them. The army then dispersed to dispose of any enemy they could find.

Putting it simply, battle was pure hell. Erynell was driving Hathelas into anything near her that moved, praying it was no ally, but the only way to survive was to cut down practically all in her path.

Occasionally, Erynell would find cause to throw knives into enemies. For example, when she first saw the Haradrim on their giant Mûmakils for the first time since she was their prisoner, she had been trying everything to cut them down, one by one, and her throwing knives were very effective.

Erynell had been following Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli as closely as she could while still keeping an eye out for Eowyn and Merry. However, she could not lie, everything was a blur around her, and she had no way of knowing who was who among her allies and enemies.

The only way she was able to follow the man, the elf, and the dwarf was to constantly be on lookout for Legolas' green attire and blonde hair, or to keep her ears honed for the sound of Gimli's yelling.

More than once, Erynell had turned around to catch a blade about to fall on her just in time. She was able to stick the attacker after about half a minute of swordplay, but overall, orcs were not strong with their defense. They constantly tried to attack and Erynell was able to use that to her advantage.

The elf was about to catch up to Aragorn and his company when he called out to Legolas. In understanding, Legolas jumped onto the back of a Mûmakil, cutting the Haradrim from its back and bringing it down with three arrows to the head. Legolas landed on his feet gracefully in front of Gimli after sliding down the limp trunk of the Mûmakil. The dwarf then started to yell at the elf.

_Is he even real? That cannot be possible!_ Erynell was running through bodies of orcs, occasionally getting her feet caught and clumsily landing on her hands and knees.

Erynell finally caught up to Aragorn once again, before noticing one of the surviving Haradrim creeping up behind him, sword raised and an evil sneer on his face.

"Aragorn!" She yelled and ran faster, ready to kill the Haradrim. While running, her foot was once more caught between a body and the ground. With her force, Erynell flew forwards and landed on Aragorn, knocking him to the ground. He looked up and saw the Haradrim and he saw Erynell stand up immediately and cut off his head in fury.

When she turned to see if he was alright, Aragorn stood and nodded his head to the woman whom he owed his life. They returned to battle and cut down many more orcs before the field seemed to freeze. A gusty wind blew and on it was carried a shriek and the sound of the crushing of metal armor.

_What could that be?_ Erynell looked around, wondering what to make of the noise. She saw Legolas doing the same while everyone else was still fighting. Legolas caught her eye and Erynell slightly lifted her shoulders, ignoring the ache that had been present in her left one since Aragorn reset it. Legolas nodded and they continued fighting, though the number of orcs had gone down drastically.

Erynell allowed herself time to breathe, something she did not believe she had been doing for hours. The scent of blood was heavy on the air and it caused her to feel sick once again. Bodies lay as far as the eye could see, chilling Erynell to the bone. Fleeing the battle, a shadow of hundreds of orcs could be seen retreating to the forest. Erynell smiled at their screams of fear.

Behind her, closer to the white city, Erynell could see the green mist of the hundreds of the undead gathering. Erynell ran that way, knowing that there is where Aragorn and the others would have gone off to.

_Does this mean the battle is won?_ She thought a she surprisingly did not trip on any orcs.

The small crowd of those gathered before the undead army consisted of Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Gandalf, and Merry's best friend Pippin. Erynell had not been able to properly introduce herself to him and smiled that they now could. At the sight of the little hobbit, a shadow of doubt grew in the back of Erynell's mind.

_If Pippin is here, where is Merry? Where is Eowyn?_ She did not see them among the crowd gathered there.

Snapping her out of her thoughts, Aragorn approached the ghost king slowly.

"Release us." The apparition barely moved his mouth, but his words were strong and haunting.

"Bad idea. Very handy in a tight spot, these lads….despite the fact they're dead." Gimli spoke and then backed away when the ghost king seemed to snarl at him.

"You gave us your word." The undead turned back to Aragorn.

"I hold your oath fulfilled. Go. Be at peace." Aragorn bowed his head to the ghost king who looked up at the sky. The army seemed to disintegrate and dissolve into dust, blowing away with the wind as the sun broke through the clouds. Aragorn turned as soon as no trace of the army was left and looked at Erynell and the others. Next to her, Gandalf bowed his head in respect and homage, obviously pleased with Aragorn's decision.

Those gathered started to disperse, looking around for all familiar faces among he dead and wounded. Pippin raced off, looking around, his legs carrying him quickly despite his size. Erynell followed him, a bit slower. She needed to find her friends as well.

Her feet were like lead as she threaded her way around bodies. Erynell was careful to step on neither orc nor man. She had been following Pippin at first, but realized that if he did find Merry then he'd probably want to be left alone with his best friend. So, Erynell started to thread her own way among the bodies.

_There's that soldier who spoke to Eowyn and I about returning._

_I killed that orc. I wonder if he really deserved it._

_There you are. I was wondering when you would show up._ Erynell stopped walking to look at the soldier before her. He was sprawled out on the ground with a knife wound in the middle of his stomach. Erynell could see the shining of his entrails in the sun.

"Hello, captain." Erynell spoke harshly to the man Harad who had first held her captive aboard his Mûmakil. For battle, his black hair was braided with gold and sticking to his forehead with sweat. He wore a scarlet tunic with a gold collar under his golden breastplate, and his sword was still lying in his hand.

While she was looking down at him, Erynell realized that his eyes opened. The elf jumped back and kicked the sword out of his hand, thinking he was going to kill her. The man simply looked at her with faraway eyes. She wondered what he was seeing.

"Who….are you?" His breathing was ragged and Erynell realized that he did not remember her.

_Good._ She thought.

"I am no one. Do not worry." She spoke, and watched a trail of blood drip down his chin.

"You must be here to escort me from this life." Erynell could barely hear him, so she kneeled next to him.

"Yes, I am." Her ill will towards the Haradrim and this captain were pushed aside as she decided to comfort a dying man. A thought stuck her. "What is your name, so that I may tell your god?"

"Suladân." He stared at her and barely smiled, obviously pleased by her promise. Then his bloody, dirt caked hand grabbed hers. She let him hold it to his chest. "Thank you." He spoke one last time and closed his eyes, only for them to open again when they saw nothing more.

Erynell relinquished one tear for this Suladân and removed her hand from atop his breast. She stood and then felt a presence approaching her. Gandalf came and stood be her, also looking down at the man she had just comforted.

"You know this man." Gandalf knew she did, because he had once before read her memories of the Haradrim. The wizard wanted to know what Erynell would say.

"He was the leader of the Haradrim; the one who ordered me a prisoner atop his Mûmakil." Erynell sighed once and rested her hand on Hathelas at her side. "Did he deserve death, though? All he wanted was comfort and reassurance as he died, he did not wish death upon me."

Gandalf nodded once and moved his staff to his left hand before putting his right on Erynell's shoulder.

"How are you faring?" He asked. Erynell just shook her head. Gandalf's brow furrowed in concern and his lips puckered in thought. "I give you my word that I will do whatever it takes to return your memories. However, if the One Ring is destroyed as it ought to be and the forces of Sauron fall, I think I may have an idea for the restoration of your past."

"Thank you." Erynell suddenly turned to hug him around the waist. Gandalf was much taller than her, anyway. The old wizard soon turned away and allowed Erynell to resume the search for her friends.

At the sound of a pain-stricken yelling, Erynell turned around abruptly and noticed Éomer dropping to his knees and holding the thin body of a soldier with long blonde hair to his chest. Erynell dropped to her knees then as well.

_Eowyn...dead? She died...thinking I betrayed our promise?_ At this, Erynell waned to cry, but though she found her throat constricted and her chest aching, Erynell did not shed a tear. Instead, she turned back to the horizon where the sun was beginning to set in the west. In that direction, a profile larger than a man was making its way towards her swiftly. She was about to draw her sword before she turned a bit and noticed it was a horse. Her horse.

"Léod!" She called. Léod must have heard his name called and he started running even faster, though his run was off. It was as if he was bucking with every step, as if trying to throw a rider off. Erynell caught his reins in her left hand as he passed and bit her tongue as he pulled on her bad shoulder before stopping. Then she noticed he was being ridden.

On Léod's back was a dead soldier of the Rohirrim. His hand was tangled in Léod's mane and his feet wrapped in the stirrups. Erynell was surprised he had not fallen off with Léod's gallop. The Erynell realized something with the movement of his chest. The soldier was not dead and was using the last of his strength to hold onto Léod. Erynell quickly felt the soldier's forehead and whispered soothing words in his ear. The she lead Léod to the white city with the soldier on his back.

_Léod must've returned to the troops somehow after he bolted and been put to use._ She thought.

As they entered the gates of Minas Tirith, some women from the healing room immediately came and carried to soldier from Léod's back and into a makeshift bed for healing. One soldier came and tried to take Léod's reins from her, thinking she just found him and brought him back to the soldiers. Erynell held the reins tighter and glared daggers at the man who then released the reins and backed off. Erynell mounted Léod then and rode passed the insolent soldier and to the stables.

There were very few horses in the stables; most were still out on the battlefield or dead there as well. Erynell brought Léod to the brightest stall she could find and was about to unsaddle him when Aragorn and Gandalf strode in behind her. They stopped to look at her and she stopped taking off Léod's bridle to look at them.

Aragorn was cleaned up. Instead of his old leather and worn clothes, he was wearing new, silky fabrics and armor. His breastplate had a white tree on it and his hair was much neater then than it was no more than an hour ago.

"My lady." Aragorn bowed his head after a moment of silence. "I was not able to properly thank you for saving my life in battle." Erynell smiled and nodded her head in response. Gandalf passed Aragorn with a smile and stood directly in front of Erynell.

"We ride to the black gate of Mordor. Will you be there to see the forces of evil fall?" Gandalf asked her straight out, with no warning, with no doubts as to her abilities.

"I will see this through." She smiled and placed the bride back onto Léod. Gandalf smiled as well. He would have persuaded her to go eventually anyway. The wizard wanted to see if she would get her memories back if they succeeded and he wanted to be there for it.

"Of course, there is a small chance of success. Are you sure?" Gandalf would not lie to the elf.

"I have nothing to lose and everything to gain, Gandalf. I'm sure."

"We leave now." Aragorn rested his hand on his sword and left the stables. Gandalf followed with a swish of his robes.

"Here we go, boy." Erynell spoke into the ear of Léod. He nickered softly and pawed his hoof impatiently. Together, they rode out of the stables to join the company headed to Mordor.

**Reviews:**

**LibStar123: Of course you can and it's definitely not a stupid question, either! Basically, it means "If you don't answer, I don't write." It's pretty much a fancy way of saying "I like reviews." I'm so glad you like this!**

**horseyyay: Oh wow I love all your reviews! I'm so pleased that you love it and are enjoying it. I'm really enjoying writing it for all of you, too. Your reviews mean a lot to me! I'm glad you like the name Erynell (naming is sometimes the hardest part of writing) and I don't like the "love at first sight, kissing in chapter 2" legomances either! Feel free to keep reviewing.**

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	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own Lord of the Rings however sad it may be. I only hope to represent Tolkien's work with an OC of my own. What you do not recognize from the books or movies or appendixes or anything else of Tolkien's belongs to me.

"Not all who wander are lost." ~J.R.R. Tolkien

Pe ú-aphedidhir; avon teithad.

7.

Erynell could feel Léod's weight shifting beneath her. Looking around, she wondered whether or not Léod was nervous as well. Of course, how would Léod know to be nervous? He could just think they were off on their way to the familiar Edoras. Léod would have no idea that his life was being put in danger by one he trusted.

_Well, I hope he trusts me, _Erynell thought, _though I haven't given him any apples in quite a while._

"We ride!" Aragorn called from right in front of Erynell making her nudge Léod into action. The sun was setting rapidly even though the plan was to leave Minas Tirith immediately after the Battle of Pelennor Fields. Even Aragorn in all his haste was not able to pull the surviving soldiers from their families immediately, especially when the soldiers were told of this suicide mission.

Erynell, however, was ready to ride to the Black Gate of Mordor immediately after Gandalf had asked her to accompany them. There was nothing for her in Minas Tirith. Her friends were all riding to attack Sauron's forces and she was almost certain her memories lie in wait with the Eye of Sauron everyone would speak of.

The girl was surrounded by familiar faces as they rode to the East. Before her was Aragorn, leading the soldiers and galloping on his kingly horse, Brego. To her right rode Gandalf, adorned in white and carrying his great staff with Pippin on Shadowfax in front of him.

On her other side rode Legolas and Gimli who were arguing over who killed more enemies in the battle that just passed. Their words made Erynell slightly sick, but she managed to ignore them for a while. Finally, riding behind her were Éomer and Merry.

After the battle, Pippin had told of how he'd pulled Merry out from under the body of a hideous orc and carried him all the way to the healing hall of the white city. After all his turmoil, the smallest hobbit had been delighted to discover that Merry was not sick or wounded. His best friend was only exhausted and would be ready to partake on perhaps their final journey together to defend Frodo and ensure the future of Middle Earth be bright; even without them in it.

All of those surrounding her had accepted Erynell's company for various reasons. Aragorn now considered her a great friend since she had saved his life from a now decapitated Haradrim and had resolved within himself that now he was indebted to the strange elf. Like the others, he was determined to help her reclaim her memories.

Erynell was glad to have her newfound friends, though she wasn't sure how happy Legolas was with her since she had once again resolved to put herself at risk in battle. Gimli still didn't know what to make of the elf though he seemingly had accepted her as an acquaintance since she did not act as high and mighty as the other elves he'd known; one Blondie included. Then there were the hobbits who both seemed so eager to trust all of those around them. Perhaps that is why they appeared as mere children to Erynell.

Finally, Éomer seemed to have eventually started to trust Erynell once she had fought and killed for the cause of man. He was now determined to protect the girl just as she had protected many of his soldiers at their recent battle.

"Where are all the other elves in these endeavors?" Erynell turned to Legolas. It was the middle of the night and they were allowing the horses to walk at a slower pace in order to regain their stamina.

"Most have already left Middle Earth to go to the shores of Valinor across the sea. Those who remain believe the cause of man to be long lost and are busy defending their own borders from the evil of Mordor." Legolas looked straight ahead when Gimli scoffed and muttered something about "good for nothing elves."

"Will you all leave forever?" Erynell was concerned. The Sea-longing was still pushing her to the shores Legolas spoke of, but she had just arrived in Middle Earth and wished to see all that she could.

"Every elf eventually goes to Valinor by boat or by death, but there will still be colonies and small kingdoms present during the next age." Legolas spoke at first shaking his head and then turned to Erynell.

"And what age is that?" Erynell asked.

"The Fourth age is coming quickly, though it is possible that the next age will be the Age of Sauron or the Age of the Orc if the Ring of Power is not destroyed. That would be the end of all things." Legolas spoke sadly with a tinge of apprehension in his voice.

"But we are going to Mordor to ensure the destruction of the One Ring," Erynell paused to turn to Gandalf. "Aren't we?"

"The outcome of this day is clouded. No one can tell what will happen with our arrival at the Black Gate. It may be our last stand but it will be valiant." The wizard smiled at his words, as if they had a deeper meaning. Erynell turned away from the old man and looked back to Legolas.

"Will you leave?" Erynell asked him.

"Unless I am taken by the sword of an orc at the Black Gate, then my withdrawal from Middle Earth is far into the future." Legolas smiled, confident in his abilities and chuckled softly. "Besides, there is still evil threatening my homeland. I can feel it."

"I feel nothing." Erynell searched inside her for any clue of her own homeland and then huffed. "Where are you from anyway?" She asked Legolas.

"I hail from Mirkwood where my father reigns as Elvenking…." Legolas paused before continuing, his eyes narrowing as he stared into nothingness. "And I know I should want to return, my mind says so and I do miss it, but just as the prophecy stated…."

"Your heart yearns for the sea." Erynell finished his sentence for him as he nodded. Aragorn looked back briefly only to give an order.

"Pick up the pace once more!" He shouted and had Brego run faster with everyone else following his lead.

They all rode hard with the stars above them. As she rode, Erynell found herself looking above her and studying the small lights twinkling in the heavens.

_How can sky so beautiful cover a world that is so dark? _Erynell was saddened by her thoughts and forced herself to stop thinking them by instead focusing on the thundering hoof beats of those behind her and the breathing of Léod beneath her.

It was another few hours before Aragorn allowed the troops to slow once more, and this time Erynell found herself speaking to Pippin. Merry who was still riding behind her was fast asleep and recovering from stabbing the Witch King and leader of the Nazgûl in the back of the knee.

"It's so green and everything is so peaceful. Not to mention the food is plenty, pipes are always lit, and the ale is the best in all of Middle Earth." Pippin was of course speaking of the Shire. Erynell had become curious of his homeland as well when he spoke of it fondly.

"Of course, you'd have to be there to see it to make sure I'm not making it up." The young hobbit hinted. Erynell smiled.

"Of course I'll have to see it! ….As long as there is plenty of food." The elf winked at Pippin, making him blush.

"_And_, unlike other places people speak of, no evil has tried to invade our borders!" Pippin leaned to look at Legolas who raised his eyebrows and turned away.

"Then I feel it is my duty to venture to your Shire, since I find evil to be so cumbersome." Erynell was trying to keep herself lighthearted and succeeded in doing so when she found that her comments had lifted Pippin's spirits as well.

"Then there're the best made hobbit holes in all of Arda and of course the forests and the parties! Bilbo Baggins – he's Frodo's uncle – had one once for his eleventy-first birthday and the entire Shire turned up! It was magnificent, of course then he had to go and disappear…." Pippin continued long into the night, barely stopping for breath. Gandalf chuckled lightly at the hobbits endeavoring speech.

_I hope you can find your way back to the land you are so fond of. _Erynell smiled sadly as the hobbit kept talking. She was only half listening when Pippin stopped suddenly. Erynell turned, wondering why he'd stopped and saw him looking down at Shadowfax' mane. The elf raised her eyes to the landscape in front of her and saw the storm of Mordor above them, illuminating the black hills and a tower far away, with a light atop it gleaming with a chilling light.

_The eye. _She thought, suddenly. Erynell was able to tear her gaze away from it to look at the hobbit once more.

"There was one night I was on my way to my room at Edoras when I heard strange noises coming from the other side of a door I passed. You left the next day. Did you have something to do with it?" She was genuinely curious and was not expecting the look of shame on the hobbit's face as he looked up at her or the look of warning from the old wizard behind him.

"I looked into a seeing-stone that Gandalf had. I was stupid and attracted the enemy to me at Edoras. I had to leave with Gandalf to Minas Tirith." Pippin looked down again and silenced himself. With nothing else to do, Erynell turned again toward the eye on its great tower.

Aragorn once again gave the order to go to a gallop, and Erynell heeded his command, though she was still looking into the great eye. The eye was not gazing in her direction, but the elf found she could not look away. Instead she studied the flames and the intense darkness of its slit pupil. While Pippin could not bear to look upon it, Erynell could not bear looking away. She was drawn to it, and was being called in deeper as the troops approached and the appearance of the eye became clearer.

Gandalf noticed Erynell staring at the eye before then, and he merely thought she was curious. He observed her behavior and only lightly tapped her on the shoulder to bring her out of her stupor after the elf had stared at the glowing orb, unblinking, for nearly half an hour. She was the only one who could bear looking into it for that long, even Gandalf was having trouble focusing on the eye for an extended period.

Erynell snapped out of her trance and turned to Gandalf confused. They were still galloping fully towards Mordor, and she had no idea why the eye intrigued her so. Gandalf wouldn't give her any hint and instead looked away, for he himself did not know. Erynell started grasping the strands of Léod's mane as they galloped on, fully unnerved at her own behavior and impatiently waiting to retrieve her memories.

Finally the dawn arrived. A red sun rose over the dark horizon, almost hidden by clouds immediately, but still shedding hopeful light on the small army. The higher the sun rose, the closer and clearer the black gate appeared before them until finally the army stood in its shadow, packed together and preparing for whatever was coming.

Many men were exhausted from the sleepless night of riding to Mordor, though Erynell was bursting with energy, and she knew the same was true of Legolas who was inspecting his arrows next to her.

After a long moment of uncomfortable silence and waiting for something to happen, Aragorn finally pushed Brego forward to the gate with Legolas, Gimli, Gandalf, Pippin, Merry, Éomer, and a fully armored soldier of Gondor behind him. Erynell stayed put on Léod with the other men, not thinking she had the right to interfere with negotiations.

"Let the lord of the Black Land come forth! Let justice be done upon him!" Aragorn yelled right outside the gate. Everyone could hear him and shifted nervously among themselves.

In less than a minute, the gat opened a mere crack to allow a tall figure on an armored horse through. Something about him unnerved Erynell. Maybe it was the fact that his mouth was twice the size as normal and his helm had no eyeholes. It could even be the fact that he was simply from the Black Land as Aragorn had called it.

The small group that had approached the gate spoke for a moment with the tall figure. Erynell had to look away because her elf eyes could see his black mouth, filled with blood, and seemingly corrupted, as if tainted by the very words the figure spoke.

The figure suddenly held up a shirt that was glinting in the small amount of sunlight breaking through the clouds. Merry and Pippin both remarked in dismay at the sight of the object. Erynell wondered what the shiny shirt was a token for.

Aragorn approached the figure with his hand resting on his sword. When he leaned in, Erynell thought he would simply whisper something to him, maybe a threat. Instead, Erynell flinched when Aragorn roared and swung his sword so as to cut off the head of the thing.

The group turned and rode back, looking grim. In response to her curious eyes, Legolas simply nodded and returned to his spot next to her.

"What happened?" Erynell leant to ask Gandalf. The old wizard just shook his head and drew his sword. Erynell did the same, following his example, and turned to see the black gate open wide, letting an army of thirty thousand orcs out of Mordor. Erynell's breath caught in her throat, looking to Aragorn in panic.

"Hold your ground-hold your ground! Sons of Gondor-of Rohan….my brothers!" Aragorn caught Erynell's eyes before turning away and galloping in front of the army to inspire them.

"I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. The day may come when the courage of Men fails; when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship; but it is not this day – an hour of wolves and shattered shields, when the Age of Man comes crashing down – but it is not this day! This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good earth – bid you stand! Men of the West!"

Aragorn held Anduril aloft, enticing the others to do the same. In Erynell's hand was Hathelas, heavy and not ready to stab more beings, but the elf would do what she must. With Aragorn's word, the army dismounted from the backs of their horses. Erynell briefly wished Léod good luck, telling him to stay out of trouble, before she turned to smile at Aragorn. She was scared out of her mind, but she would try and be optimistic for others' sakes.

"Never thought I'd die fighting side by side with an elf." Gimli gruffly spoke and glanced at Legolas. With a smile, Legolas looked down upon Gimli.

"What about side by side with a friend?" He spoke quietly, causing Erynell to smile as she eavesdropped.

"Aye, I could do that." Legolas dropped his hand on Gimli's shoulder while she turned back to the orcs that were steadily growing in number and surrounding them.

Before either army made any moves, a sudden light burned over the men waiting in the sea of orcs. The eye was staring at Aragorn in its fury. The would-be king stepped forward briefly lowering his sword and looking at the eye in awe. Erynell was afraid that he was being corrupted by the eye's sick power, but he then turned around to face Erynell and all the rest of the group.

"For Frodo." He spoke with tears in his eyes and once again led the charge into the enemy. There was a moment of silence before anyone else gathered the courage to run, but the ones who did were the two stout hobbits accompanying the men. Erynell smiled and lifted her blade, a tear sliding down her cheek.

The rest of the army, including Erynell, leapt forward with cries of their own and quickly overtook the brave hobbits. They were soon engaged in their second battle in two days and fighting bravely.

Erynell was seeing men of Gondor and Rohan alike falling on blades left and right. She could barely manage to dodge the orcs herself and was using defense for nearly the entire time of her fight. The only thing she could think of was surviving and defeating the enemy, for she had more cause than most to want Sauron to fall.

It was only a short time then before Erynell recognized the shrill screeching of the Nazgûl. She closed her eyes slowly and opened them again to look above her. There were only eight of them now, though that did not give anyone much hope.

Erynell looked around to use the quick distraction to see who was still alive. Surprisingly, most men had been faring well, and not as many had died as she thought. All of her new friends were alive and fighting, and that's when she spotted Gandalf.

The wizard was whispering frantically to something in his hand as he was looking up at the Nazgûl bearing down upon them. Opening his hand, Erynell saw a large moth flutter away and quickly out of sight. She had no time to ponder, however, before she had to continue defending herself.

Erynell was lucky that she had been missed by the claws of the Nazgûl whenever they had raked down a lot of men surrounding her. There had been close calls, however, and Erynell was starting to become weary and starting to accept her impending doom.

The there was another call. It was not chilling or evil like that of a Nazgûl. This call was different; full of hope and light. It returned the courage to Erynell's heart as she started fighting harder, cutting down more orcs and staining Hathelas with more black blood.

"Eagles…." Pippin somehow managed to find himself right next to Erynell. She was glad the small hobbit was still on his feet. As he spoke, his tone was disbelieving. "The Eagles are coming! The Eagles are coming!"

Sure enough, as Erynell looked up, she saw great birds engaging the Nazgûl with a certain ferocity she had not encountered before. After a while and a few Nazgûl falling to crush crowds of orcs below, the remaining ones turned in a flurry of wings and hurtled back over the gate towards the large mountain in the middle of the land.

"They're retreating!" Erynell called. She had a smile on her face as they flew away.

"No." Gandalf said quietly, narrowing his eyes. "They've figured out the diversion." The light of the Eye of Sauron left as well, honing in on the entrance of Mount Doom.

Erynell's smile fell and she sliced open another orc.

_This is still going to work. They are too late. We will win. _Erynell was whispering words of encouragement to herself. They could not fail. She could not die without knowledge of who she was.

Behind her, there was a great bellowing roar. Erynell turned to see a great armored troll advancing on Aragorn with a spiked mallet. The troll roared again and hit the ground with his mallet. Dirt and rubble flew everywhere, even spraying Erynell who was a good fifty yards away.

With the troll, the great eye was suddenly drawn back to the battle at the black gate. However, its gaze stopped on Erynell. The elf dropped Hathelas in the midst of battle and stared back. Her mind was suddenly flooded with thoughts that were not her own and Erynell could hear a voice like a shadow, cloaking itself over Erynell's head and seemingly separating her from reality.

The more the black speech echoed in her head, the more Erynell felt sick. She fell to her knees and covered her ears, trying to scream but not getting any sound out. Erynell barely registered the blonde elf in front of her, defending her while she could not fight for herself, until she closed her eyes and saw someone else behind her lids.

The one she saw was the one speaking, though she could not focus on him. He was screaming at her, his words quickly changing from the black speech into that of Elvish which she had heard others speak in before. The voice was growing louder and louder until it stopped, almost as if it gave up. Then her mind was hers again.

Erynell stood, seeing her friends all looking at her and slowly nodding, though her brows were furrowed.

_What had just happened?_ Erynell asked herself. She looked around and noticed both armies had stopped. The men and orcs were clearly separated once again and all eyes gazed upon the massive dark tower of Sauron. Behind it, Mount Doom was clearly erupting, and the tower itself was starting to crumble.

Around Erynell, there were mixed looks of terror, joy, and dismay. The very foundations of Mordor were crumbling away. The earth under the orcs was collapsing and sending them falling to their death. None escaped even as they scurried in all directions to avoid their doom.

Then there was Mount Doom itself. Lava and smoke was exploding from its many fissures and Erynell took a step back in realization.

_If that is where Frodo and Sam are, then they must be dead._ Erynell started tearing up once more, seeing her other friends look on in dismay, knowing that there would be no way for Frodo and Sam to survive the cataclysm.

Finally, Erynell looked back at the tower of Barad-dûr, and caught the Eye of Sauron once more. It was staring straight at her as it fell. Erynell was suddenly compelled to run forward. She screamed as Legolas caught her and kept her from running straight into the chasm that was once Mordor. Once more her mind was flooded in Elvish, but this time it was soft and pleading.

"Annatar!" Erynell screamed the name loudly and desperately. When the tower finally fell into dust and rubble, Erynell's mind was empty once again, though now she was sobbing uncontrollably.

Gandalf, who had been standing nearby, rushed over and whispered something into her ear as he bent down to be at her level. The wizard closed her eyes as she fell lightly into Legolas' arms, unconscious.

Erynell woke up in a bed, very sore. She breathed heavily before opening her eyes and looking around.

_This is Minas Tirith. _Erynell could recall from the first time she'd been there. _This is one of the Houses of Healing_. Again, Erynell recognized her surroundings. She carefully moved every one of her joints and muscles to see where she was hurt so badly she needed to be taking up a bed. The only thing she could think of was the migraine plaguing her head.

Erynell stood, slightly blinded from the light reflecting off the walls outside of her window, and walked toward the door, head pounding. She easily found the main chamber of the healing hall and was surprised she had not seen anyone else yet. Across the tiled floor, however, there was a door open a crack and voices coming out. Happy voices.

Erynell rushed over, not wanting to be seen by anyone for some reason, and she peaked into the room. There was Éomer and lying in a cot holding his hand, there was a familiar figure clad in white with long blonde hair. Her left arm was heavily wrapped and she was smiling with her brother.

_Eowyn! _Erynell almost started to cry out in the hall, but before she did, Éomer stood.

"Let me find you some food." He spoke to his sister and let go of her hand. Erynell just managed to round a corner to hide before the now King of Rohan strode past.

_Now's my chance. _Erynell slipped into the room that Éomer had just vacated and closed it softly to a crack behind her. When she turned, Eowyn was just staring at her. Erynell however was smiling widely. As soon as Erynell stepped forward to speak with her friend, Eowyn's gaze turned into one of fury.

"You left." Eowyn spoke, not as a question but as a statement, a very angry statement, too.

"I still fought at Pelennor Fields." Erynell's face suddenly dropped, remembering that Eowyn would react that way.

"I did not see you. You did not ride with me into battle. You left me to fight alone." Eowyn's eyes held the fire that Erynell so admired.

"You had Merry." Erynell pointed out and then widened her eyes, realizing how that sounded. "I followed Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli through the Mountain Pass. We did not desert you. We found reinforcements." Erynell's voice was starting to sound pleading.

"What reinforcements?" Eowyn asked.

"The dead men of the mountain."

"You abandon me and then feed me impossible lies! I know of those tales, no one can tame those traitors."

"Aragorn did. He had Anduril." Erynell shook her head and briefly remembered the night before they left the mountain pass. Erynell still wished to learn who the elf was that had given Aragorn his sword.

"I do not believe it." Eowyn crossed her arms carefully, wining as her left arm touched her right.

"But what about you? I saw Éomer holding your corpse to his chest. I thought you were dead!" Erynell changed the subject.

"My arm was broken when the leader of the Nazgûl struck my shield with his mace. I passed out from the pain. I was not dead." Eowyn looked out the window. Erynell rushed to the injured woman's side.

"The leader of the Nazgûl?! I wanted to flee when I saw any one of them! You fought their strongest?" Erynell sat where Éomer had and looked on at her friend in shock. Eowyn said nothing and turned away.

"Eowyn," Erynell's voice dropped, "I fought and I killed and I saw good people die. I walked among corpses, sat with the dying as they took their last breath, and I cried on the field of battle; for you and everyone else. Then I marched on to Mordor and fought more orcs without ever recovering from the earlier battle. I killed again and I cried again and I watched Mordor fall into rubble.

"Forgive me for seemingly abandoning you, but even as I followed the others through the mountain, I was adamant about keeping my promise and helping you on the fields of blood. Ask the ones who wanted me to turn away. Ask the ones who wanted to keep me on a bloody ship instead of letting me defend mankind. Ask about what I said in response to those demands, and believe me, I was not being very lady-like." Erynell finished her little speech and let more tears spill down her face.

Eowyn sighed and finally smiled, tears spilling down her own cheeks. Then the woman reached up with her right arm and pulled the elf into a careful embrace. Both smiled and started to talk about everything that had happened to the other one. Although the two had much they wanted to talk about, a voice soon was heard from the door. Both women jumped and looked up, wondering how long Gandalf had been standing in the doorway.

"May I steal Lady Erynell from you for a bit, Lady Eowyn?" He leant on his staff and smiled slightly. Eowyn nodded and lay back down. Her brother rushed in with a bowl of stew. Erynell stood and looked at the wizard. Now it was her turn to be upset at someone. Éomer smiled at the elf as she passed, but Erynell ignored him and went to walk back to her room with Gandalf.

She was lying in bed again at the insistence of Gandalf. Her migraine had returned and instead of looking at Gandalf as he was looking at her, she instead surveyed the view outside of her window. However, after soon realizing that Gandalf was more stubborn than she was, Erynell spoke up.

"You promised." She said.

"I said that I would try. I thought that when the tower fell you would have your memories again." Gandalf spoke and sat in the chair next to her bed. Erynell shook her head at him and curled her hand into a fist under her blanket. She could feel the nails digging into her skin.

"Why didn't it work?" Erynell asked and then did turn to Gandalf who puckered his lips in thought.

"While you did not regain your memories, something did happen to you. You remembered _something_." Gandalf leaned forward and spoke just above a whisper. "Annatar." Erynell breathed deeply.

"What does that word even mean, Gandalf? You are only confusing me." Erynell just wanted him to leave.

"My dear, that is the answer to who you are."

**Reviews:**

**jdsnape: Yeah, I was really excited about uploading that last chapter, then I realized that I'd copied it into the document manager wrong and all my italicized bits just looked like I had been switching point of views. Looks like I did make mistakes! Hope it's all fixed now, though! I hope you liked this chapter and promise more Legolas moments will come forth!**

**LibbyLue24: I'm so happy that you like this story, that's the whole point of me writing it, after all! And I'm so sorry about the typos, I realized that there were some places I still needed to italicize after I published them, and I'm going to start editing all that I've written so far very soon. If you see anything absolutely terrible, please tell me!**

**Guest (#1): And I love you! I'm pleased that you like my writing, and that you're happy with the pace I'm going at. It's really hard not to jump into things.**

**HaruhiandHikaru: (I love your username; just had to say that before anything else!) And thank you so much for your review, its one of the reasons why I wrote this chapter so quickly. I hoped you liked the Eowyn part in this chapter, and please don't cry! Anyway, I'm sorry I didn't spoil Erynell's past yet, but we're only seven chapters in, anything could happen! I'm so glad you like this story, you're a lovely human being.**

**The-Right-Girl: Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh. A Star Trek reference! I'm swooning. Anyway, yes I have a pet hedgehog. My first one's name was Pippin, and he lived a gloriously long life before he passed away :( Now I have another one named Ginny (after Ginevra Weasely in Harry Potter) and she's great too. I'm glad you like this, and I didn't think Erynell would be the kind of person to be cruel to a dying man, so….**

**Guest (#2): I'm just dying to tell you who she is! But I must resist. It's seven chapters in and I still need a plotline! Thank you so much for reading.**

**kellerciana: Oh I'm so glad! I'll try to continue pleasing you as best I can! I only hope you'll keep enjoying this story.**


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